A Twist in Time
by Lily272
Summary: Joey's disk is broke and from one second to the next he is in another time and place but what will he do if the Pharaoh doesn't know him yet? And when he can't even speak the same language? And what will Seto do to get him back? Thanks to Joanther for the nice picture!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Please enjoy the short story. It will only be a few chapters. Hope you'll like it.**

* * *

><p>A Twist in Time<p>

Prologue

Joey ran as fast as he could. He got some new cards and was eager to try them in a duel against Yugi. He didn't care about the wind that was starting or the dark clouds that began to cover the once blue sky. Once his head was on a game nothing could distract him.

Or at least nearly nothing. "Did you see a squirrel that you're running like that, dog?"

Joey turned at the insult that could come from only one person in the world. And just as he thought there he was. His worst nightmare came true. Seto Kaiba with his fancy clothing and his glued on suitcase. At least he wasn't wearing one of his fancy new duel discs that Joey was jealous of. Joey wanted one really bad and Seto always had the latest, of course. Seto had been through at least four different models since Joey had gotten his one at the beginning of the battle city tournament and no one but Joey was using that old thing anymore.

"No but I saw ya and rather run for the hills than waste my time with you." Joey shouted back and just turned to run faster towards Yugi's. He didn't see nor cared that the sheepish smile, that had just formed on Seto's face as he had turned to him, had now disappeared again. Seto hated it when Joey was too busy for a fight with him. But there was nothing he could do. After all he didn't exactly have time for a fight either. He was just walking into a restaurant where he had to meet an important businessman. Happy that he at least didn't have to risk that anyone would find out his true feelings for the blond mutt during that fight. After all Joey was nothing but a street dog and it was already bad enough that Mokuba had started to look suspicious when he talked about or to the blond duellist. He had to be extra careful now since he didn't want that anyone would ever figure out those feelings.

Joey looked at the duel disk on his arm as he ran. Thinking about the latest duel disk he had seen in a shop. It was black and red and Joey was saving for one but he knew that it was probably off the market by the time he had managed to save up the money. He already was trying to find an after school job but so far with no luck. He just hoped that he had enough money for a plain duel disk by the time his present one stopped working all together. It was already falling apart, losing bits of the metal frame here and there and after a look inside Joey knew that he would never be able to fix it if it broke. He didn't even know the name of half the stuff inside. Sure there were tiny wires and some computer chips but there was all sort of other stuff in there too and how anyone could build something that complicated was beyond him and he secretly envied Seto that he could do something amazing like this but Joey would rather die than say that out lout to anyone.

He took a deep breath as he stood in front of the game shop that belonged to Yugi's grandfather. "Hey Yug' I got some new cards and want to try them, are ya up for a game?" He asked in his usual cheerful tone as he opened the door.

"Sure Joey, let's go." Yugi said eager to play a game like always. This hadn't changed since Yami had left even though it was obvious that Yugi thought about his other half a lot especially during a duel.

Both teens walked outside into the ally next to the game shop. Neither one noticed the darkening sky as they started to duel. Both where too focused on their game.

For a few turns they enjoyed the game before the rain started. At first it was just a gentle rain which the boys ignored. They didn't notice nor care about the flashes of light from the storm that was on his way. Both ignored the quiet thunder at first. But they couldn't ignore any of that for long since the rain was starting to get worse and the thunder as well as the rain were soon at a volume that the boys needed to scream to make themselves heard.

"Maybe we should stop," Yugi said being the more responsible one of the two.

"Are ya scared that I beat ya?" Joey teased knowing full well that he was in the disadvantage right now even though he had 500 life points more than the king of games. But that was about to change in the next round and there wasn't much he could do, unless he got the right card he would lose in the next four turns.

"I'm not but it is getting cold and wet and I would rather get inside." Yugi said.

"Oh come on, let's finish the game." Joey said.

It was Joey's turn and there was a card that might actually let him win. A Black Dragon Chick. Now he might really win and he could feel it. He summoned the monster ready to use it's special effect to summon his favourite dragon.

"What's that?" He heard Yugi ask

"Don't tell me ya forgot that card?" Joey said teasingly not seeing the panic in his friends eyes as sparks came out right under the card he had just played escaping through the many loose parts where water hat gotten inside of the duel disc.

"Not that! I mean the sparks." Yugi said and wanted to run to Joey but it was already too late. He had already activated the special effect but at first there were just more sparks all around the duel disc and now Joey too looked surprised and a bit afraid. But more because he might lose this chance to win due to a broken duel disk. But then the Red-Eyed-Black Dragon came forth, just that this one knocked over a bin on the side, while even more sparks with different colours appeared out of the duel disc that was starting to light up. There were so many sparks by now that Yugi couldn't see his best friend any longer. "Joey." He screamed and started to run across to Joey but the dragon blocked his way and Yugi looked at the dragon. He was about to run around the monster without worrying that he might end up like the bin that had now a big dent in it. After all his friends life might be on the line. But the dragon didn't stay for long. Much to Yugi's relief he saw him fade away within seconds. But the relief didn't stay for long. Because while the sparks also started to disappear along with the dragon, they left nothing behind. Joey was gone, leaving Yugi all alone staring at the dented bin and claw marks from the dragon. "Joey." He mumbled quietly while tears of fear filled his eyes.


	2. What the hell are they talking?

**What the hell are they talking?**

Joey pressed his eyes closed but he could still see the blinding light that was changing in intensity and colour. It was like all the multi coloured sparks had turned into one giant one and he was in the middle. The duel disk that was obviously broken felt so hot that he was sure it would catch fire any second and for a few moments he believed that this would be his end.

With all the light and the heat he didn't even notice how the ground seemed to disappear from under his feet. All he could feel was the heat and all he could see was the blinding multi coloured light while he screamed for help until everything turned dark and his consciousness faded away.

Slowly, after a long time, he could hear voices through the dark but didn't get the meaning at all. He heared births and nothing thar even remotly resembled the thunderous strom that had been on. But before he could wonder why Yugi hadn't helped him if he was knocked out long enough for the storm to pass he noticed that there were a few more changes in his surroundings. He was lying on warm sand instead of the hard street he should be on and the city smells were replaced by the smell of flowers.

Slowly he opened his eyes just to close them again, wishing that this was just a bad dream and by the time he opened them again everything would be right back to normal. He slowly tried to open them just to be disappointed. NOt by the blinding sun that was promising some hell of a good weather but by the fact that the 6 guys who all were holding the pointy part of a spear at him were still there. "Hey guys." He said, trying to sound as innocent as he could.

One of them grabbed the back of his coat and pulled him up. "Hey, go easy. Jeez, if ya want me to get up, just ask me." Joey took a look around wondering since when he had enough fantasy to dream up such a strange place. He saw flowers he had never seen before and in between ways and some ponds with big fishes in them. There also was a lot of sand that looked a lot like desert sand. And then he noticed something else. "Hey Atemu, how are ya doing?" But to his surprise he had much more imagination as he had thought possible. Because those spear guys started to talk in a strange language. After listening to the words he didn't understand, he looked confused. He saw someone come out of a huge and nice looking building and knew that this dream would soon turn into a nightmare. None other than Seto Kaiba walked out. Like Atemu's skin his was much more thane and his clothing a far cry from his typical stuff but Joey had already noticed all the Egyptian resemblances and wasn't surprised by that anymore.

Kaiba wasn't the only one to walk out. Ishizu was fallowing him on the foot. Both of them, as well as Atemu, had their Millenniums items with them. "And here I thought the fucking shadow game nightmares had stopped." Joey mumbled while watching the Egyptian Kaiba and the Egyptian Ishizu walk over to the Pharaoh. Joey saw her use her item before looking at him in confusion and whatever she said next wasn't something Kaiba liked. He looked upset and started to argue with the Pharaoh. Even though he didn't understand the words it was obvious to Joey that Kaiba tried to be polite but his face showed his displeasure. It felt like hours before they seemed to get to an agreement. Joey's stomach had grumbled a few times. During the first time the Pharaoh and the other two had looked over to him but after that they simply ignored the sound. "What a pal." Joey mumbled upset without even getting attention from anyone other than the guards who poked him a little with their spears. "Could you at least get me some grub?"

After the discussion had ended Kaiba walked over saying something that made the guards remove the spears. He said something else, walked away two steps, just to turn and make a gesture that clearly meant that he wanted Joey to follow. "Like hell, I'll just follow ya just so ya can torture me." Joey mumbled. Kaiba walked back to him and said a few words very slowly while making one gesture with each of them. First he pointed at Joey then to the floor before pointing at Joey again and then letting a finger glide along his own throat it clearly meant that if Joey stayed he was dead. After waiting to see on Joey's face that he understood, he started the next sentence. This time he first started to point at Joey then towards himself before moving his fingers like walking legs and then he moved his hands like he held something in it and moved it to his mouth, pretending to take a bite out of the imaginary food. Joey thought for a moment, he had a choice between dying or getting some food. The obvious choice was food, but unfortunately that one also meant spending time with Kaiba. Still he walked a step closer and as soon as he turned to walk into the palace Joey followed.

There were statues along the rather narrow way to the room Kaiba was leading him to. The room itself was big and with gold at some places. The bed was huge, a half circle covered with cushions against the wall on the opposite side of the entrance that was nothing but a whole in the wall covered with a curtain. On a table close to the bed were fruits and Kaiba gestured at them. Joey slowly walked towards them and eyed them suspiciously but in the end his empty stomach won and he ate something from the plate, not knowing what it was. He sat down on the bed while eating some more of the food until some fabric was thrown his way. Joey eyed it suspiciously before picking it up to examine it. It was just an rectangle piece of fabric. Joey looked at Kaiba questioningly and he just pulled at the fabric of his skirt like thing, that Joey thought looked ridiculously girly, and then pulled on Joey's jacket, trying to get him out of it. "Get your freaking paws off me." Joey screamed while moving away and throwing the fabric back at Kaiba.

He saw Kaiba giving a sigh and sitting down on the bed next to the space where Joey had been before, which he now patted clearly signalling Joey to sit back down. But he rather had to stand than sit next to Kaiba. And so he watched him until Kaiba tried to communicate with him again. He pointed at himself and said "Seth"

"Ya know who I am and now quit the gibberish." Joey simply said, wondering since when Seto Kaiba couldn't even pronounce his own name right.

"Seth." Kaiba said once more pointing at himself before pointing questioningly at Joey.

"I got it already." Joey said before pointing at himself, saying "Joey." While thinking _Great now were in Tarzan and Jane or what?_ For a while it was quiet and Joey decided to sit down again. It was unbelievably hot in that room and he was sweating like mad. Even sitting was getting too exhausting after a while and so he let himself drop backwards lying on the bed. "Why is it so hot?" He asked, whiping the sweat off his face.

Joey felt Kaiba moving next to him and the jerk held up the fabric looking thing at him questioningly. "No way." Joey said but got out of his jacket. It was way too hot for the warm clothing he had put on for the cold and wet weather he had been running through to Yugi. Kaiba watched him, still holding the fabric up for him. Joey decided to grab it just to throw it away to make the massage clear while he said "NO" Kaiba simply gave a sigh before he stood up to walk over to a flagon that was filled with water and he poured some of it into a bowl. Then he started to undress himself. "What the hell are you doing?" Joey nearly screamed. This was more than freaky. The strange Kaiba turned around with an amused look on his face before he washed himself right in front of Joey. The only upside was that he had still a bit of fabric around his waist. And even so Joey didn't want to admit it, he did enjoy the view. It was just the feeling he got from watching him that sort of crept him out. After Kaiba was done, he walked with his still half naked body to the fabric Joey had thrown away and then over to Joey to put it next to him. On the other side, where Kaiba had been sitting before, he sat down again right after giving Joey that tiny piece of fabric back.

"You've got to be kidding me." Joey mumbled and walked over to the water to try and refresh himself at least a little but first he tried to get rid of his duel disk. Only now did he notice that it had changed. There were no open parts anymore and parts of it were black, others red. A bit like the black and red one he wanted to get, just way cooler. Some cards from the game with Yugi were still in it and he tried to get them out but that was impossible. He also couldn't remove the cards from the holder. They were all stuck in it and the worst part was that Joey couldn't open it. It was stuck on him. He tried opening it again and again until this Kaiba look alike was next to him. And as much as Joey hated to admit it he was probably his only hope, even so it was clear to him now that it wasn't Kaiba and that he had somehow either gotten back into this strange memory world, just that this time the rules were a little different, or he had managed to travel back in time. Either way, he had absolutely no idea how to get back.

After awhile Seth managed to open the strangely changed device. The metal that clung to Joeys arm seemed to disappear into the disk. After removing it Seth took it and started to examine it. He tried to take one of the card out of it. To Joey's delight that seemed to be much harder than simply opening it but he seemed to refuse to give up easily. He kept trying while Joey washed himself quickly with one eye on the Kaiba look alike, that was now messing with his duel disk and deck, just in case he got one of his cards out.

Once the water had cooled him down enough, Joey thought about getting dressed again but decided against it seeing that it was just too hot for his warm stuff. He even eyed the thin fabric this Seth had given him before but it was just much too girly for his taste and had to think about what Kaiba might say if he told him that his look alike looked girly with that skirt like thing.

Joey walked back over to the bed unsure of what he could do. It wasn't like he could talk to anyone since no one here seemed to understand him and to make things worse Atemu didn't seem to recognise him. Joey let himself fall onto the bad once more and stared silently to the ceiling. "This sucks." He mumbled and wondered what the others were doing right now. Yugi, Tristan, Duke, Teá, Mai, Mokuba and even Kaiba. Joey felt miserable, but he still had to laugh a little at the thought that for the first time in his life he actually would be happy to see the real Kaiba.

* * *

><p><strong>Author note:<strong>

I wrote that the "Skirt like thing" is girly because I guess that Joey would thing that, not because I don't like it. Because I actually do. I hope you like it so far. Next chapter will be what Kaiba will do when he finds out that Joey is gone.

And thanks to BrowneyedShamer, Nagareboshi-Lover and dancing elf for the nice review (hug) and also thanks to everyone who is reading my story. :P .


	3. Where is Joey?

**Where is Joey?**

"Mokuba, hi it's me. I need to talk to your brother but he isn't picking up his phone." Yugi said hysterically. After staring at the place where Joey had been moments before and the claw mark the strangely substantial hologram had left behind he decided that his best bet to find Joey would be Kaiba. After all the hologram was the making of his duel disk and the strange light had been coming from said disk as well.

"Calm down Yugi. What is wrong?" Mokuba asked suddenly worried.

"Joey's gone." Yugi said.

"What do you mean, gone?" Mokuba asked, wondering if someone might have bothered to kidnap Joey instead of him for a change but failed to find a possible reason for such an action.

"He disappeared into thin air right in front of my eyes. There was some strange light coming from is old duel disk and the hologram that was made by it left a claw mark into the concrete. A claw mark, Mokuba. Since when can a hologram do THAT?" Yugi said nearly screaming. "Mokuba, I don't know what to do. What if he is hurt?"

"Calm down and tell me where you are I get someone to pick you up." Mokuba said "And don't worry, Seto never picks up when he's in an important meeting unless it is me and I'll call him and get him right on it."

"You think he'll really work on it? I mean he and Joey never got along." Yugi asked worried.

"I bet he'll be working over time to get him back, trust me on that one." Mokuba said, hoping that his assumptions were right. "And if not I'll make him work overtime. And now tell me where you are."

"Don't bother just tell me where to go." Yugi asked.

"The way you sound you're not going anywhere, I´ll get you picked up and now tell me." Mokuba said, trying to sound as commanding as his brother could.

"I'll wait at gramp´s game shop. I'm just at the back." Yugi said.

"Good. I'll see you later." Mokuba said ending the call. Normally Mokuba would have assumed that it was just a prank. But the way Yugi had sounded something strange was going on and with all the things he had seen happening around Yugi, Joey and his brother before he wasn't even that surprised and believed every word in an instant. And while Yugi ran to the front of the shop to wait for the car Mokuba was sending, Mokuba phoned Seto.

"I hope it's important." Seto said as soon as he had picked up.

"I think it is. Joey disappeared." Mokuba said.

"Thanks for the information, where will the party be?" Seto asked sarcastically.

"I'm not kidding, big brother. He disappeared right in front of Yugi into thin air. He said there was some malfunction with his duel disk and then he was gone oh and the monster he had out actually left some claw marks." Mokuba said repeating the information's he had gotten. "And now we have no idea if he is still alive."

Mokuba heard his brother take a deep breath before he asked "Where?"

"We don't know where he is." Mokuba said.

"I mean where did it happen of course." Seto asked sounding much rougher than he intended but the thought that Joey might be dead because of a malfunction with one of the duel disks he had produced was torturing him.

"Somewhere close to the game shop of Yugi's grandfather. Yugi is still there, I'm going to get a car there he'll tell you exactly where then." Mokuba said.

"Don't. I'll get there and have a look. I'll meet you at Kaiba Corp. right after." Seto said and ended the call without even saying goodbye.

Much faster than Yugi had expected he saw a fancy car stopping right in front of him and it wasn't just some driver in it, it was Seto Kaiba in the flesh who had arrived. He had the door of the car just about opened and already asked "What exactly happened and where?"

Yugi walked towards the lane where he and Joey where duelling while already giving him every detail he thought might be important and then some just to be sure. Once he was done he simply watched Seto take a look around the lane. Yugi even saw how Seto got a notebook out of his suitcase and a measuring tape to write down the exact size of the claw mark and the dent in the bin as well as distance between them both. "Where exactly did Joey stand?" Seto asked and Yugi simply pointed to the place just to see Seto measure the distance between the claw mark and the point where Joey had been as well as the angle to the bin. After that he asked "Are there any small kids living around? Preferably some that might still be playing in a sand box?"

"Hm, not that I know of why?" Yugi asked confused.

"There is some sand that doesn't look like the everyday city mud." Seto said and put some of it in a tube that he got out of his suitcase as well. He also picked up something that looked like a flower patel and placed it in another one after taking a look up the surrounding buildings.

"I guess that you used the disk that is still on your arm to duel him when it happened, correct?" Seto asked.

"Yes, do you think Joey is all right?" Yugi asked.

Seto walked over to Yugi and simply took his arm and detached the disk. "I'll need that and to answer your question, I have no idea what happened but I doubt that he got hurt by it. There is no evidence for that."

After that Seto walked towards his car. Yugi followed, asking "What are we doing now?"

"I have no idea what you're doing, but I'll go back to Kaiba Corp. and make damn sure that this useless mutt is getting back to annoy the hell out of me as soon as possible and if it's just to prove that my duel system had nothing to do with it." Seto said and got into his car to drive off, leaving Yugi standing where he was.

"Jerk." Yugi muttered upset that he hadn't taken him along but decided to walk there. Mokuba was sure to let him in on what was going on.

In the meantime Seto drove with much more speed than it was allowed through the city, running over a couple of red lights not caring that he nearly got into a traffic accident that he would have caused. Once he had reached the building he walked past his younger brother who was waiting in the lobby. "Make sure to keep everything else running, I'm in the laboratory and don't want to be interrupted for anything."

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Mokuba asked.

"Not yet, but I will find out where he is and get him back." Seto said and Mokuba saw in his face that it was better not to ask too much and just let him work on whatever it was he was going to work on to reach that goal.

And so Mokuba got his phone out, once more noticing that Seto had obviously left Yugi behind.

"Mokuba?" Yugi asked as soon as he had picked up on the other side. "Is Seto already there? Did he say something about Joey?"

"He's working on it but I guess we won't find out anything until he knows more. He's locking himself up in the laboratory. There's no point in you coming really. I guess I won't even find out anything."

"I'll come anyway, if you don't mind." Yugi answered. "I need to do something and if it's just sitting around there. I'm just so worried about him."

"Okay. I'll see you later then." Mokuba said before ending the call and starting to get Seto's regular work done while he was busy finding Joey. Once Yugi was there they talked a little and Mokuba tried to calm Yugi down, who was still a bit shocked by what he had seen happening.

The next few days where all in the same pattern. Mokuba would go to Kaiba Corp. alone to find his brother already working wordlessly. Seto would work all day. Living mostly from coffee and a sandwich here and there, while he was still working. In the evenings Mokuba got home on his own while Seto would still work through the night. The longer that pattern went on, the more often Seto would fall asleep behind his laptop until something woke him again. Mokuba was starting to worry about his health and wanted to at least try to talk Seto into sleeping at home at least every second night but the way Seto reacted every time someone was just walking too loudly around him (which is why none of the girls were wearing high heels these days) he choose to rather stay clear of him. But it was hopeless. He continued to search for the missing duellist like his own life depended on it and nothing seemed to be able to stop him. Mokuba had no idea if he even had a theory about what had happened but he did know that Seto was building something and making tests all the time. But no one knew what that something was.

After about three weeks later, Mokuba dared to go into the room he was currently testing something again and saw a duel disk with similar dents and broken parts as Joey's had before.

"Hey big brother." Mokuba asked trying to sound cheerful.

"What do you want? I'm busy." Seto asked.

"I just wanted to ask if you have any idea what happened yet." Mokuba asked.

"I'm not absolutely sure but I do have a theory. Unfortunately said theory is rather unlikely and if it's actually somehow possible, I'm not sure how to ever get him back yet." Seto said sounding disappointed himself.

"What theory is it?" Mokuba asked.

"I think he somehow got thrown back in time as well as to another place." Seto said.

"Back in time? Is that even possible? I mean really back in time? I know from Yugi about that memory world thing but that wasn't real, was it?" Mokuba asked.

"It was rather a thing in our minds or different demention that was created by a memory somehow, and please don't ask me how. I'm just afraid that I don't know if he is back for real or if something similar happened to him." Seto clarified, not stopping to prepare for the experiment he was preparing. Mokuba watched him for a moment, wondering what exactly he was doing.

"What makes you think that he is in a different time?" Mokuba asked.

"I found a flower patel close to the place where Joey had been seen last." Seto explained "It was of a flower that is very uncommon especially in our climate. It is growing in some places in Egypt, or rather it was. Traces of it have been found on artefacts and in pyramids but no one has ever seen the real thing."

"You mean that flower patel thing came from a different time?" Mokuba asked astonished.

"Yes and the sand is the exact kind that is found in the desserts around the pyramids." Seto added. "Unfortunately I don't have any expert on Egypt working for me, which means that my informations on that topic are limited to what I can gather from the internet and that means some might be incorrect."

"Why don't you ask Mr. Muto?" Mokuba suggested. "I mean he is sure to help, he likes Joey and he is an archaeologist who has been to Egypt so often and he knows old pyramids, he surely will be able to tell you more about this plant and so on and I'm sure that what he'll tell you is correct."

Mokuba hadn't even finished the sentence when Seto got his phone out to call someone. Once that someone had picked up he simply said "Get the old Mr. Muto here and if he dares to say no, drag him here." After that he simply ended the call and Mokuba decided to leave and to ask Yugi's gamps a little more nicely and warn him about Seto's intentions to drag him if necessary, even though it won't be once he knows why he was summoned.

A few minuts later Solomon Muto and Seto Kaiba were discussing things in Seto's office at the top floor of the building and in the upcoming week a new pattern started. Solomon would stop by every day after he closed his shop to discuss things and it soon became apparent that it indeed was helpful since he knew about findings that Seto hadn't known. It wasn't only the things Seto had found that spoke for a time travel but something else too. Something that also made it clear that it wasn't like the last time. Some sort of medallion had been found in a pyramid of a pharaoh. So far experts believed that a grave robber must have left it behind and were wondering what he had taken out at the time, since there were still a lot of valuable artefacts. But the medallion, which was sealed, couldn't have been from the same time as the pyramid even though it looked like it from the outside. But inside were two things that weren't likely. One was a blond hair which could have been explained by being from someone who had travelled there but the other thing was impossible to be from that time since it was a piece of fabric that wasn't known to anyone at the time. It was a piece of jeans perfectly preserved in the sealed medallion.

A DNA test had been made from that hair to see if he was a realative of any of the already found mummies which rather often had such a test done on them as well, but it didn't match anything nor did the persons to work on it find out anything else at the time. But now Solomon tried to use his connections to get the results, while Yugi tried to find something to compare it to from Joey, while Seto would get the DNA test done and see if it indeed was Joey's hair inside of the medallion proving him to be in a different time. Unfortunately they still wouldn't know what time exactly since Solomon had no idea who that pyramid belonged to or when that person might have lived. All he knew was that two male not related mummies had been found inside.

During the day Solomon was in his shop while Seto was still working on a way to get Joey back, sure that if there had been a way for Joey to get there, there must be a way to get him back and if it was the duel disk that had gotten him there, his disk had to be the solution to that problem. And he already had found out a bit more on that topic and was confidant that by the time they had all the necessary informations, he would have a way to get Joey.  
>After just another week it was done. Yugi had gotten a hair out of Joey's hairbrush at home and it was confirmed. It was Joey's hair that was found in that pyramid but that still didn't give them the information they needed but Seto had a plan for that. There was a time frame where the pyramid had been build in, meaning that Joey was there around that time. And Seto had managed to build a device that might get him there. The only problem was that he didn't know when and where exactly to get to and it would be hard to test it without sending it there and he would never get it back unless someone else sended it back. And so he decided to send it to the start of the time where Joey could be in and hope that he'll find it and send it back to an orting device that he would have in his office to see when it gets back. It was a long shot since the area was big but if he wouldn't hear anything he would try it again and again and eventually try it himself anyway. He needed to get the blond duellist back at all costs.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong>

I'll be on a trip for the weekend and might not update, I try to update on the trip or latest Monday after work.

And thanks to BrowneyedShamer, James Birdsong, Nagareboshi-Lover and mandapandabug for the reviews and thanks to everyone else who is still reading this story.


	4. Freaky

**Freaky**

Joey walked around the garden he had first landed in as he came to this strange world. He was wearing his only pair of jeans which he washed out at night and had the legs cut off half way. His shirt also had no sleeves anymore and he was still sweating like a maniac but at least the heat was bearable this way. Seth still tried to talk him into wearing one of those funny things he was running around in but so far Joey refused. But the temptation got bigger the warmer the weather was and Joey feared that at some point he would run around in a skirt. Of course he knew that it wasn't really a skirt and that every guy here was wearing it and must think his pants as ridicules as he thought their stuff but he still refused to just go along with the no pants policy. Joey also had his strangely changed duel disk that must have somehow gotten him to this place and if it could do that it must be his only way back and so he tried to figure out how every chance he had and it were a lot of chances that had gone by fruitlessly since Seth seemed to be just about as busy as his modern look alike.

Joey stopped at one of the ponds and let the water cool his feet. It felt funny to feel the fish try to nibble on his toe. It was tickling him a little but in a pleasant way. For the millionth time he wondered if he'll ever get home again. He was here for weeks now and during the first one looked into the room of this strange Seth character that watched his every move whenever he was around. It had been so freaky that Joey had screamed at him and all this guy did was look at him in pity coursing Joey to miss the good old Kaiba more and more. He longed for a good fight with him again. But he still missed his friends even more and wondered what they were doing all the time. Yugi must be worried sick and Joey had no way of letting him know what was wrong or where he was.

But there were other freaky things about Seth and one of them was that he wasn't only watching Joey. He tried to talk to him over and over and over. Trying to teach Joey this strange language but unfortunately for Seth, Joey had no intention of learning it since he still hoped that Yugi would somehow get him back to where he belonged. But Seth also had managed to pick up a few English words and was now offering food and drinks to Joey in English and he was also able to say a few other things but not much yet. Not enough for a real conversation but hopefully enough to get when Joey called him an ass hole. He should have that word down as often as Joey used it just to make up for the missing moneybags he would have picked a fight with.

"Joey." He heard a voice.

He turned to see confirmed what he had thought "Talk of the devil." He mumbled loud enough for Seth to here who looked questioningly. Joey gave a sigh "What?" He asked knowing that Seth had caught up on that one as well.

"Fallow." Seth instructed him but Joey had no reason to just walk after him like a pet dog. He knew what Kaiba would say if he ever found out that Joey had fallowed anyone after one word and that thought was enough to keep Joey's feed in the cold water that was much nicer then the hot sand anyway. After already standing in the door Seth turned around to see that Joey wasn't even looking at him anymore and asked "Food?"

Joey immediately looked up and said "Hell yes I'm starving."

"Follow." Seth once more ordered after hearing the word yes which was the only one in that sentence he actually understood.

Joey gave a sigh and got a pair of sandals on that he had gotten from Seth. They were much better for the heat then his sneakers and the sand was sometimes to hot to walk on in his bare feet and so he had to use those ugly things. And seeing that food was involved he better did follow Seth even though Joey hated the fact that he was behaving even more like a dog that way since he got a treat for listening to his wanna be master. While following he was surprised that they weren't going the usual way up to Seth's room. Joey hadn't been anywhere else in this palace. Even in the two weeks after Joey was allowed to leave the room he was only permitted to go into the garden and there were always some big muscular guys with a spear around and Seth had more or less hammered into Joey's brain that he would die if he did try to go anywhere else while Seth was gone off to do what ever it was he did when he left.

But now Joey was lead to a different place and curious where he was going with Seth. He got even more curious when they left the building and entered a busy street. Or rather a sandy way between sand coloured buildings stuffed with plenty of people. "Where the hell are you taking me?" Joey asked upset not bothering to think about the fact that Seth couldn't know a single word apart from recognising that Joey had said 'hell' which he did in nearly every sentence. And so Seth only looked at him questioningly and Joey pointed into the direction they were going and asked again "Where?"

"Follow." He simply said again. And he smiled like he enjoyed the fact that Joey had no idea what was going on.

"Oh come on just tell me. Where?" Joey said frustrated. He loved surprises but since it was Kaiba, or rather someone who looked like him he wasn't sure if this surprise would be a pleasant one. Granted Seth had always been nice to him and given him plenty of food and water and obviously tried to help him in this place where everything was so strange and different but Joey didn't quiet trust this look on his face Seth had whenever he watched him or the way Seth sometimes toughed him. Joey also thought it strange that since they had to sleep in the same room and that for had to share a bed that Seth always would hug him and more or less cuddle with him. Another thing about this Kaiba look alike that really freaked him out. But now Seth just smiled at him without saying anything.

After walking along that way they heard a scream. Joey turned to look just like Seth did but Seth was about to keep walking even though a girl was obviously threatened by some guys. "Leave her." Joey screamed even though he knew that it was probably pointless to say something he still couldn't just shut up. He grabbed Seth's hand since he obviously had some power and said "Help her." And pointed to the girl. Seth gave a sigh and walked over to those guys and started talking to them much to politely for Joey's taste. Joey looked at the girl who looked like she was about the same age as Serenity and Joey hated to think of a girl that age being in trouble and other would just walk by. But to Joey's pleasure the guys seemed to be less polite and soon Seth also got more and more aggravated and even started to scream.

"Go one kick his butt already." Joey mumbled without getting any attention from any of the three mans. He looked at the girl again who looked terrified and smiled at her for a moment hoping it would calm her down. Once Joey looked back up he saw two duel monsters standing on the other side obviously planning to attack Seth. Seth stepped back and Joey noticed just in that moment that he wasn't wearing his funny golden duel disk like thing. And if his memory didn't deceive him that meant that Seth was helpless as a baby. Joey saw in his face fear and without even thinking said "Stop picking on Kaiba. That's my job." And pulled a card from his duel disk. He had never done that since he arrived here. He never thought about doing that since he didn't think they could get him anywhere. But unlike Seth the first day he got the top card out without a problem and immediately summoned the monster he had drawn.

In front of him he saw the back side of his FlameSwordsman and was stunned at the heat that was radiating from him and nearly got mad at himself since the sun was already bad enough without the aid of the fiery swordsman. But strangely even though he felt the heat it didn't really bother him anymore and so he focused on the fight ahead. The opponents had two monsters while he had only one but one of the opponent was a Decoy Dragon which wasn't that strong on itself and from what he remembered this guy shouldn't be able to summon up anything else. The other one was a monster he had never seen before and looked like a mixture of a person and a raven. It did look tougher then the dragon and Joey thought that he better be a bit careful with that one and so Joey told his swordsman to attack the little dragon first. It disappeared without a problem and Joey was happy about it since it had reminded him too much on Kaiba anyway. Joey also noticed that he didn't need to tell his monster anything. He could feel it and knew that the monster would feel what he wanted it to do. Joey knew that he could control it with his mind only. It felt like the Monster was nothing but another part of himself.

After that the raven like thing attacked Joey's monster but moments before the attack would reach, it suddenly flew around the FlameSwordsman and right towards Joey.

Joey heard Kaibas voice scream something strange and felt a pain in his arm after the raven like monster had attacked. The pain didn't matter though, he had heard Kaiba and like hell he was going to loose to those losers in front of him when Kaiba watched. Joey focused his thoughts on his FlameSwordsman and more felt then saw him while his eyes were focused on the monster that had just attacked him and simply willed his swordsman to attack the thing in front of him. Joey could feel the muscles in the arms that held the burning sword tighten and the feet move without moving himself at all and the next thing Joey saw was how his swordsman transformed that raven into mince meat. Luck was on his side once more, the FlameSwordsman was stronger then the other thing. Both of the other guys fainted and Joey looked to where he had heard Kaiba's voice to see Seth stare at him with open eyes. Joey still felt the swordsman standing right where he was and willed him to just go to wherever he had come from and it worked. He disappeared and the card was shining for a moment before disappearing into the middle of his deck.

"Are you alright?" Joey asked Seth who was still staring at him. He didn't get an answer and decided to first look for the girl to give Seth some time to calm down. But the girl must have run off during the fight. She was probably to affright to stay.

While he looked around he could feel something on his arm and looked back to see that Seth had gotten up and bound a bit of white fabric around his arm. It hurt a little and Joey remembered the attack. "I'm fine." He said trying to sound as calm as possible while he removed his arm from Seth's hands. Once he was free he saw the cut in his upper arm that was bleeding a little. He stared at it. He hadn't noticed that he actually had gotten hurt like this. Sure there was a bit of pain but his only thought in that moment was Kaiba's voice which obviously was only the one from Seth.

Seth said something in his own language and tried to get hold of Joey's arm again. This time Joey let him do this, knowing that it was better to get the wound covered since there was so much sand around and what it might do if it gets inside of a wound like his. After that Seth walked back towards the place they had come from. "Hey." Joey complained and as soon as Seth had turned he asked "Where the hell is my food?" He could see a smile appear on the before worried face and then heard a sigh before he asked something in his own language but Joey didn't even recognize the word not that he bothered. "Joey wants food." Was all he said knowing that Seth understood every word of that one. Once again Seth said something and pointed at the wound looking worried. Joey just waved his hand like it was nothing and said "I'm fine." Before saying once more "Joey wants food." This time trying to sound cheerful to make sure to get into his head that he wanted to get the promised food and not someone to check on a wound he hardly felt.

"Joey food." Seth answered using Joey's language again and smiled at him still looking way to worried but walked into the same direction he had been before the little encounter with the bad guys they now left lying there.

After a little while they reached a market place and Joey stared. Once they were there he walked from one stand to the next not caring about the eyes that were following him. Probably because of what he was wearing. It didn't take long until his nose had let him to some food and he turned to look at Seth and said "Food." Again hoping to get some. Seth just gave the guy behind the stand some metal pieces and the guy gave some of the bread like thing back. Joey knew it by now and loved the sweet tasting stuff while he knew that Seth never ate any of it. Probably not liking the sweet flavour. This one was clearly fresher then the ones he had before and tasted that much better. Once he had eaten it all he once again asked "Food?" just to get a surprised look from Seth who then bought a bit more and Joey once more at all before walking from one stand to the next once again. After awhile he found some fruits he liked as well and again simply needed to say one word to get what he desired. They continued in that matter over the whole marked and looked around.

At some point they saw some jewels but Joey wasn't into girly stuff like that and just passed it. But Seth called his name and looked at them and so Joey waited to let him have a look around too. After looking at one golden bracelet Seth asked "Joey want?"

"Like hell. I'm not into girly stuff." Joey mumbled but only got a questioning look since Seth didn't understand anything. "No Jewels." Joey simplified knowing that he would at least understand the no while he pointed at the jewels hoping he would understand this one as well as all the other he had learned so far.

Seth gave a sigh again and said "No jewels." And it was clear that Seth understood but Joey wondered why he looked disappointed. Fortunately that disappointed look changed soon into one of astonishment and amusement as they kept walking and Joey kept eating. It seemed like Seth was just as happy about buying food for Joey and watch it disappear in the black whole of his stomach as Joey was eating it all.

After awhile Seth called out his name once more and Joey looked at him. He looked to a stand a bit down a way and said "Joey." while pointing into another direction as Joey was. Surprised Joey walked back to where he was and looked into the direction he pointed at and once he had seen what he meant he screamed "Kaiba" And dashed to a stand where a duel disk just like his own was lying. The only differences were that everything that was black now on Joeys was white on this one and that the red parts were in an ice blue coloured. It had to be Seto Kaiba's one and if that was in a place like this it must mean that they were looking for him. Mokuba probably forced his brother to help. Joey could nearly picture it how Mokuba was threatening Seto that he would never speak to him again if Seto didn't help Joey and how sad Mokuba would be if Joey didn't come back making Seto feel bad about not helping his brother to get his wish come true. It had to be that way after all Kaiba would probably just throw a party if Joey left.

"Joey want." Joey said as soon as Seth had caught up and looked as begging as he could. Seth smiled and seemed to discus something with the man who sold the duel disk. It seemed like he wanted to get as much money for it as possible and seen how much Joey wanted it. After a long discussion Seth gave the man some of his metal things and Joey jumped up and down in pleasure saying "Thank you." over and over. Seth smiled but once again looked a little worried as well. Now Joey was examining the new duel disk and not even minding where he was walking until Seth put an arm around his waist to pull him closer and save Joey from colliding with a stand. "Thanks." Joey mumbled when he noticed and continued his examination of the white duel disk while Seth's arm stayed where it was and led him back to the palace and into the bedroom they were currently sharing.

Once they had reached the bed room Seth said "Wait." and left Joey alone who was happy to look at the disk in private. He had already noticed a button that didn't match the rest of the disk. It looked like a black claw mark and Joey was sure that he was supposed to press it but didn't want to do so in front of the watchful eyes of Seth who looked with so much doting affection at times that it was creeping him out more every single day. Once Joey had pushed the button a small compartment opened and inside was an old looking piece of paper. Joey took it out and noticed that there were hieroglyph on one side but on the other side was something written in plain old English and Joey had never been so happy to have something to read as he was now.

'Dear Joey

We have a slight idea of where and more importantly when you are but we can't come and get you until we know it more exactly. This device you're holding now is a prototype and not properly tested do not use it to get back or you might get hurt. Wait for us to come and get you. Write down what you know about when and where exactly you are and put the note where you found this one. After that press the small button right under the claw it will send it back, hopefully. Please wait for us and be careful I don't want you to get hurt.

See you soon Seto Kaiba'

Joey stared at the note. Kaiba said such nice things? Mokuba must have written it and forced him to sign. Joey kept staring at the note wondering how to do what Seto had asked. He had no idea himself where or when this place is. And neither did he know how to find it out. There was no way to find out by asking Seth since he had no idea how to ask him. Suddenly he had an idea. He turned the paper and looked at the hieroglyphs, maybe Kaiba had thought about just that problem and written something there or got someone else to write something there. He would have to show this to Seth maybe then he would know what to do. Joey looked up and shivered, how had it come to this that he was relaying on Kaiba and a look alike of him so much? Something was seriously wrong with this picture.

A little while later Seth walked in and for once ignored Joey. "Hey asshole." Joey said to get his attention and Seth looked up at him. It wasn't normal that Joey addressed him. The only normal thing about this was that Joey didn't use his name. Joey always called him Kaiba or Asshole what ever that meant. Joey on the other side loved how the Kaiba look alike reacted on the word asshole like it was normal to be called that.

Joey held the paper out to him and Seth walked over to look at it. Joey wondered what was written since Seth looked like he was about to blow something up once he was at the end of the note. He looked at Joey and pointed at the last little hieroglyph or at least that was what Joey had thought but after actually looking at that particular one he noticed that it was the KC of Kaiba Corp instead. Probably meant as a signature. "Kaiba" Joey said but after seeing that Seth still looked confused he started to say "Seth, Joey, Kaiba" and pointed from Seth to himself and at the end at the KC on the paper. Seth looked even more mad now and Joey had no idea why. "What's wrong?" Joey asked.

"Joey want Kaiba?" Seth asked and looked sad.

"Like hell." Joey said but saw no understanding in the ice blue eyes that watched him. "NO. I don't want Kaiba. I want to go home." Joey said.

"Home?" Seth asked obviously getting that it was what Joey wanted but not what it meant.

Joey looked around and pointed around himself and said "Seth home." Then he pointed at the now two disks he had with him and said "Joey home." And pointed out of the window unsure if anyone would be able to get it.

But Seth looked at Joey and asked "Kaiba home?"

Joey nodded and said "Yes. Kaiba is home." Hoping that Seth would get that he didn't want Kaiba but get back to his own world. He watched the sad face and part of him wished to understand his language for the first time. It would be so much easier to explain such complicated things if he wasn't reduced to the vocabulary knowledge of a two year old. Even though it was impressive how fast Seth had gotten that vocabulary.

Joey was still in his thoughts when Seth took his hand and placed it on his own chest and said "Seth Joey home?" Seth looked nearly begging and Joey gaped. He wasn't sure if he had gotten it right but he got the felling that Seth was hitting on him. And that was more then just freaky. That was way past freaky. But Joey could feel his own hear beat at the look in those eyes the longing that was clear to see in them.

Joey's wish to talk to him probably got even bigger now but was still impossible and so he stared at Seth unsure at what to say to find out that Seth please meant something different than Joey understood from that.

But then it got aperant that Joey hadn't misinterpreted him at all. Seth face slowly moved closer. His eyes never letting go of Joey's and their lips nearly toughed, but in the last second Joey turned his head away and looked away mumbling "Kaiba, home." He knew that it wasn't exactly right. Yugi and Tristan would be more correct but since no one meant to him what Seth obviously assumed Kaiba to mean, Joey thought that it was better this way. At least it was clear to Seth that he had no chance that Joey would ever want to stay. Joey waited until he noticed that Seth moved away again and starting to pack some stuff. He had started to get some out before the conversation had started but now Joey wondered why he was putting it all into a little bag.

"Where?" He asked pointing at it.

"Atemu." Was all the answer he got. Seth had found out that Joey knew the name of the pharaoh and now he pointed out the window and shrugged.

Joey watched and wondered what he could mean. But then remembered the note he needed with the time and place they were in. Joey walked over to him and took his hand to make him look at him again. He looked hurt and Joey felt sorry for having to let him down but had something imported to do now. He held up his hand and pretended to write on it with his other while he asked "Write?" and then he pointed to the note he had just shown Seth.

Seth looked at the note and a smile suddenly played around his lips one that made Joey worry that he would write something completely different then what he was supposed to write. But at least he got something to write on and did use it. Joey pointed at the pen sort of thing after Seth was done and wrote on the other side a note of his own warning them that Seth might be up to something as well as a plea to get him out fast since Seth was creeping him out more every day. He left out the part where he was hitting on him since it was to wired to admit and Joey feared that no one would believe him anyway. Once that was done he put the paper back and did as he was instructed. The disk glowed for a moment and then disappeared. Seth stared at it but then just took that bag and said "Wait." to Joey and walked towards the door.

"Wait." Joey said now and looked at him. It looked like Seth was about to leave for longer and Seth was the only one Joey could talk to at all even if it was only with one too three words in a sentence but it was much better then nothing and from what Seth had said it was something wrong with Atemu. And even though Atemu didn't know him yet, he was his friend. "Joey follow?" He asked and looked up at Seth.

"Wait." Seth simply said and was about to leave when Joey grabbed his arm.

Joey knew that it was cruel to do what he was about to do since it would only get Seth's hopes right back up and that wasn't good but it was the truth and Joey really wanted to come along "Joey want Seth. I want to follow." He said looking deep into those blue eyes.

Joey saw the smile spread around his lips again but this time a much gentler one. Seth held on to Joey's hand and said "fallow." And then they left together on some unknown mission.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

Thanks to Nagareboshi-Lover, Leviathan of the Sea and Bankroll1001.

The fight was mainly in it to show that Monsters can hurt people here and Joey used the FlameSwordsman for mednin.


	5. Found

**Found**

Seto jumped up. He looked at the black screen of his laptop which had gone into stand by after he himself had fallen asleep in front of it again. He looked up to see what had startled him. Some sort of light had been there and then he saw it. The white duel disk he had created to find Joey. It looked a bit different then before. Not older as he had assumed but the metal seemed to have changed a bit along the journey which he would have to do some tests on maybe Joey's duel disk had changed as well making it harder to ort it once he was there. He already knew that he would have no help from his satellites since there weren't any around at the time he was trying to go to. But he would find a way. He already had a second duel disk prepared that was like the first one he had send back to find Joey and since it was back in one piece it should be safe to try and find Joey. At least if there was some sign that Joey has survived this trip wirh his one.

Seto walked over and opened the hidden compartment that was made just for this purpose. He was glad to see a not where one side something was written in Joey's messy handwriting.

'Hey guys

I'm so happy to hear from you please get me out of this hell hole as soon as possible I'm freaking out here. And I think Seth is up to something. He read the hieroglyph gibberish and the way he looked I wouldn't trust him. I mean not only that he looks like Kaiba, which is bad enough already, he looked like he was planning something and I think he doesn't really want to let me go so please don't blindly believe what he wrote. But unfortunately I have no idea when or where I am all I know is that Atemu is Pharaoh but doesn't seem to recognise me at least not the one time I actually saw him. But I think something is wrong with him now. But I can't be sure, I'm mostly with Seth (Kaiba look alike) and man is he freaky. And honestly there is no one here I can talk to I would murder to get one of you here anyone even moneybags. So if you read this Kaiba, GET ME OUT NOW!

Joey.'

Seto looked at the paper. Happy that Joey had addressed him as well as about the fact that the names Joey had written helped more then Joey knew. Solomon knew in what time Atemu had ruled relatively sure and this would already be enough to find them but he did wonder what his former self was up to and worried about it. If he was anything like himself he might try to get the blonds affection and the part where Joey thought that Seth didn't want to let Joey go made this suspicion much to likely. Seto looked at the hieroglyphs angry at the fact that ever since the rod had disappeared alongside that stupid pharaoh he had lost the ability to read them. He would have to wait till the morning to see Solomon and have him translate it. But he wouldn't wait till his stupid shop was closed he would go there and find out shortly before the shop opened. And until it was time he would continue to try to find a way of locating Joey's exact position once they where there.

Solomon was surprised to see no one else as Seto Kaiba knock on the door of the Shop a few minutes before he would even open it. "Did you find something out?" He asked knowing that it had to be about Joey. Seto didn't seem to think about anything other then the missing young man these days.

"Yes." Kaiba said. "I got a message from him with the prototype I've sanded and someone answered to the massage you wrote in hieroglyphs for me on the back. I need you to translate the second one for me."

Solomon took the note Seto Kaiba was holding up for him and took a look. "Very interesting" He mumbled a few times. "What is interesting?" Seto asked after watching and waiting for as long as he could bare, which wasn't long under the current circumstances.

"It seems like Joey has some communicational problems." Solomon mused obviously very amused by what was written in the massage. He also had turned it around to read the one Joey had written already and looked even more amused ever since.

"Would you care to explain and translate that massage for me or do I have to force it out of you?" Seto asked angrily.

"Basically the massage from Seth tells us the opposite of Joey's and to stay wherever the hell we are because Joey is now his lover and not yours anymore." Solomon said "He obviously thinks that before Joey and you were together and now boosts that he chose him over you."

"I'll leave to get him back right now." Seto said. He wasn't done with his testing by a long shot but he would just take a few things with himself and hope that it worked out. He couldn't waste anymore time.

"Alone?" Solomon asked. "It is obvious that Joey has no way of communicating with Seth properly or he wouldn't think you two could ever be together. Maybe I should accompany you just as a translator."

"Admit it you just want to go there because of your studies about that strange time." Seto assumed.

"Partly, but I know that Yugi wants to come too and I bet that you wouldn't mind using me as a test object to see if it is possible to take someone with you. Joey's disk isn't like your prototype and will not be able to bring him back will it?" Solomon asked.

"I have to admit you have a point and I do already have a second disk prepared in case the first wouldn't return." Seto said. "I'll leave at 3 this afternoon. I'll might need to pack a few things if you want to come along you better be there or I will leave you behind and go alone."

And with that he was gone.

Solomon and Yugi were at the office at 2 in the afternoon worried that Seto might not wait for them if he was ready a bit earlier. And it was good Seto was just arguing with Mokuba if he really should wait or rather go to save Joey from this freaky guy he seemed to want to get away from bad enough to ask him.

"We can go." Yugi said as he walked inside. He had no idea that taking someone with them would be a test. He did guess however that it already was sort of a test to go at all.

"Finally." Seto said irritated. "Took you long enough." He had three back bags and a suitcase ready and gave one of the bags to each of them while taking the third and the suitcase and said "This are a few things we might need once we're there. I created a radar that should find Joey's duel disk if not I got something to work on the radar and get it working as well as food for a month. Just in case he isn't in the palace from Atemu. I also programmed those disks that they should get us to an oasis near the city. That way we won't draw to much attention when we arrive." Seto looked at Solomon "I also used the date you suggested and you better be right."

Yugi was still surprised how much effort and thought Seto put into finding Joey. Mokuba on the other side didn't seem surprised at all more like he had been expecting it. Mokuba would be staying behind and make sure that nothing happened to the sender that had gotten the first disk back to the right place and hopefully would get them all back safely. Seto quickly explained them how to start and then he was gone without waiting for the other two. Mokuba laughed at that and said "Good luck Yugi. And try to keep my brother from killing his former self. I think he is really angry at him."

"Why?" Yugi asked. "I mean not that I'm not happy about everything but he is acting strange at the moment especially when it comes to what happened to Joey."

"I have na assumption but I better keep that for my self. Just to be safe from Seto." Mokuba said with a smile. "You might find out soon though. And now you better go, or Seto will have to wait there and I'm not sure he will. Good luck."

"Bye and thanks for your help." Yugi said still assuming that Mokuba had pulled some strings to get Seto this involved in the search.

In the mean time Seto had arrived at the oasis. He turned on the radar immediately and was surprised that if it was working Joey wasn't far away. Or at least his disk wasn't. Seto ran to get to him knowing that he would still be able to hear Yugi and Solomon when they got there. He must be at the same oasis and if there weren't so many plants he probably would already see him.

"Hey," Seto heard Joey say somewhere close and ran faster "What the hell are you up to now?" Seto heard a splash like someone was thrown into water and stared at what he saw once he was around some plants and had a clear view on the blond duellist he was searching.

Joey was sitting in the water and some guy that looked like himself was bent over Joey, moving in to kiss the blond beauty under him. "No" Seto heard Joey say as he moved his face to look away in the last moment. In the moment where Joey looked to the side he saw Seto. Joey's eyes widened and then he screamed "Kaiba you came." He got up and ran towards him. "Kaiba you really came." Joey said once more as he reached him and Seto couldn't believe his luck when Joey actually jumped into his arms.

"Off course I came." Seto said with a grin "I can hardly leave the little mutt to stray around."

"Hey." Joey said and stopped the hug to look into Seto's face with a smile that didn't really match the words that came next "I'm no freaking mutt you stupid moneybags."

"Yes you are. And quit your noisy bark." Seto said.

"Asshole." Was the only reply.

"Idiot." Was all Seto said.

Both of them continued throwing insults at the other until Joey suddenly hugged Seto again and said "I never thought I say it but I missed you. I even missed your insults and your stupid arrogant look and to fight with you and thank you so much that you came for me even though I know that Mokuba made you come."

"He didn't need to." Seto said. "I guess I missed my little pet."

"I'm no pet." Joey said and even though Seto couldn't see his face he could literally hear the pout the blond guy in his arms had.

"I know." Seto whispered and held him tighter.

"Hey since when can you be so nice?" Joey asked before suddenly screaming "Yugi, You came to." And with that Seto was abandoned while Joey ran to his little pal.

Seto stared into the ice cold eyes of his rival. The same ice cold eyes that stared back at the tanned Egyptian man who had walked up to them as soon as Joey had run off. "My Joey." The man said and Seto knew what it meant.

He walked closer and mumbled to quiet for Joey to hear "Never. My Joey." He wasn't sure how much the Egyptian would understand and so he kept it simple and was happy to see the anger in the others eyes at the words. He also noticed how he got the millennium rod out. An item he hadn't seen in a while. Seth unsheathed the little weapon that was hidden in the hilt and Seto knew what would come next like it would be himself planning it. Seto just about could lift his suitcase to use it as a shield.

Joey was just looking at the duel disk Yugi had that now had a colour that reminded strongly on the dark magician, when he heard the noise the metal weapon made on the metal suitcase and looked at the two man who were still fighting. Joey stared for just a moment in shock and then ran to help Seto who was clearly in the disadvantage seeing that Seth had a weapon. But before he could get in between Seth had the suitcase on his head and walked a bit back. Seth was just about to attack again when Joey got in between and said "Stop it." Seth didn't react fast enough and Joey nearly got another cut but Seto was faster to react and pulled Joey out of the way and into his own arms.

"Stay out of this mutt." He said and tried to get Joey behind himself.

"Forget it and now stop." Joey said and looked to Seth. "No." He said to him and pointed at his weapon. Both stopped attacking but where standing much to close for comfort and still in a agresiv position. Joey was sure that the second he walked away they would start again. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Why are you fighting?" Joey asked looking at Seto since he doubted that Seth could give an answer he would actually understand if Seth had even understood the question. But Joey had one hand on both of their chest and his arms stretched to keep some distance between them.

"He started it." Seto said with a slight blush.

"Oh Great. Welcome back in Kindergarten." Joey said sarcastically. "Honestly what sort of answer is that. I wanted to know why you two fight and not who started it ."

"I'd happily answer if I'd know why he attacked me." Seto said hoping that Solomon was only able to read the others language and not to speak it.

"What?" Joey asked this time looking at Seth.

But Joey had no idea what the answer meant since he didn't get a single word.

"Solomon can you help me get what he's saying. I'm sick of trying to communicate like were baby's." Joey begged.

"The pronunciation isn't that different from the modern times it seams but I'm still not sure I could have understood it right." Solomon said.

"What do you think he said?" Joey asked without looking away from Seth to make sure he wouldn't attack Kaiba again.

"I think he said 'I won't let him take you away from me my love.' to you Joey." Solomon said "But like I said I could be wrong."

"No. I fear you got it perfectly right." Joey said surprised to feel even more pressure on the hand he had on Kaiba. Like he was about to attack now. He looked at his face and saw nothing but hatred for his own Egyptian self. "Chill." Joey told him before asking Solomon "Would you please tell Seth that I think he got something wrong and that I'm most certainly not in love with Kaiba."

"Of course." Solomon said to Joey before trying to talk to Seth who listened in surprise to the old man before saying something in return while pointing at Seto. "It seems there was a misunderstanding between them. He said that Seto told him that you were indeed his."

"Yeah right then tell him that he got it wrong and that Kaiba gives a damn about me." Joey said.

"If you dare to say that I'm going to break that second disk and leave you two behind got it." Seto threatened without taking his eyes of Seth.

Joey looked at Seto confused. "Why that? I mean it will help if he gets the truth."

Seto blushed a little and Joey was surprised to see that. But not as surprised as he was when Seto said "That's why Solomon should tell him that if I see him try to kiss you one more time I will rip his head of with my bare hands."

"Please tell me that you're kidding." Joey said trying to remove his hand from Seto's chest but was stopped by Seto who put a hand on Joey's to effectively hold it in place.

"Who the hell cares about this?" Yugi suddenly said. "Joey you said in the note that something was wrong with Atemu so all of you suck it up, we have to help him and not fight like a bunch of kids."

Solomon once more started to talk to Seth obviously still having trouble with the accent but at least capable of a real conversation rather then just exchanging a few words. At the start of it Joey tried to remove his hand from Seth chest but Seto and Seth were just too much alike as Joey noticed now. Because Seth also held on to Joey's hand with one of his owns.

Seto obviously didn't like that and moved a step back pulling Joey along who in return pulled Seth along since he still held Joey's hand in place and then Seth pulled them all three right back.

"Solomon. Please translate for Seth what I'm going to say to Kaiba because it goes for both." Joey said sounding like he was about to kill someone. "If you two want to play a game of tug of war then use a freaking rope and NOT ME!" Joey pulled strongly on his hands to get away from both of them and walked over to Yugi. "And now go ahead and kill each other but neither one should dare to stay alive. I can decide for myself who I like and who not so quit the stupid fight over me."

Solomon translated that for Seth and both guys looked at each other for a moment and Seth said something that Solome translated to be "Fine, as long as that brainless pig leaves me alone I'll leave him."

"Strange," Seto said "That is exactly what I wanted to say. Just that I would have been a bit more creative on the insult."

"Well I know that you got that one down." Joey mumbled.

"And I know that you missed it. You said so yourself." Seto said with a grin.

"Yeah I did." Joey admitted "But I fiercely regret it."

"Sure you do mutt." Seto said obviously not beliving it.

"Shut it moneybags." Joey said looking at him angrily.

"Idiot." Seto simply said.

"Asshole." Was all he got in return but Joey got more and more angry and his eyes were focused completely on Seto.

They once again conditioned that way until Seth interrupted by grabbing Joey's arm saying something that was quickly translated by Solomon to be "Stop looking at him, look at me."

The way Seth had pulled him and talked had gotten him Joey's attention but only until Seto asked "Do you always do what that idiot says like a good little doggy?"

"Like hell." Joey said turning his attention once more to Seto, just like Seto had planned.

"Stop that BULLSHIT at once." Yugi screamed more furious than he had ever been. "Atemu is in some sort of trouble and you behave like a bunch of kindergartener. I want to know what is wrong with my Atemu and I want to know it NOW!"

Everyone stared at Yugi in shock. "Yugi." Joey said who was the first to find his voice and even managed to sound proud "Did you just say Bullshit?"

"What?" Yugi asked shocked about his own words and blushed "I'm sorry. I'm just so worried."  
>"Don't apologise. You finally turned into a real guy." Joey said still proud and with an arm around Yugi's neck to rub the spiky head with the knuckles of his free hand. "and you're right anyway. Let's find out what happened."<p>

"I thought you knew at least a bit." Yugi said upset.

"Not really I think that he's missing. Seth just suddenly packed yesterday when I found that disk and then he wanted to run off on his own but I talked him into letting me tack along. I guess I made him think that I wanted to be with him when I actually just wanted to help my pal but to be honest I did want to be with him a bit as well." Joey explained. And looked at the two peas in a pot and was happy to see that the fight was reduced to a staring contest.

"You wanted WHAT?" Seto asked outraged.

"None of your business." Joey said angrily. "And you would want that too if he was the only one who could speak at least a few words in the same language."

"No I wouldn't I would learn his so I could choose who I want to talk to more freely." Seto said still obviously unhappy about the outcome.

"Well I'm not a freaking genius." Joey screamed back just as angry as Seto was.

And once more Seth tried to get Joey's attention by grabing him and saying something but Joey simply freed himself and said to Solomon "Try to find out what's with Atemu please and tell him not to freak out because he can forget about me staying with him anyway because first, I can't even speak his language, second I miss my pals and third he looks like Kaiba who I hate!" Joey said the last words into Seto's direction coursing him to feel like someone had stabbed him in the heart but he still refused to give up now that Joey knew about his feelings especially since Joey admitted to missed him. And the fact that Seth was trying to get the blonds affection didn't help with his competitive nature either.

After Solomon had talked to Seth he said "I'm not sure if I got it all right it is really complicated. But it's like this: Atemu had recently defeated the evil Bakura, who as we all know will return, and they predicted that he would and that Atemu would need to fight with someone who will complete his soul to end the shadow games permanently. To be able to do that they were binding his soul to the millenniums puzzle, which then was to be left in his grave. As we all know that's where I'll find it eventually and give it to you Yugi. They just had finished the ritual and assumed that Atemu would disappear until his soul in the puzzle had found his other half but instead Joey turned up. Seth said that Atemu assumed Joey to be someone who was working for Bakura and wanted to kill him. But Seth talked him into believing that there was at least a slight possibility that Joey had gotten there with their magic to help them somehow and that they should try to find out a bit more about Joey. Seth offered to try to communicate with Joey to see if he was an enemy or a friend and what purpose he has here. And now a couple of weeks after the magic ritual Atemu disappeared but at night out of his room and it looks more like he was kidnapped and to make matters worse his millenniums puzzle is gone as well. Isis saw where Seth will find him and so he is travelling there now and since Joey obviously wanted to be with him so badly and since the monster he had with him might really be helpful Seth chose to take Joey with him in the believe that Joey really came here by said ritual to help right now."

"Then it's clear." Joey said. "I'll have to stay for a little while longer."

"Like hell." Seto said. "You get your butt home with us and that's final."

"Yeah sure." Joey said "Since you say so and since I always listen to you, oh wait no I DON'T listen to you so shut that hole under your nose and either help or get the hell away I bet Yugi will stay and help so I can get home with him."

"I really don't see why you want to stay since that idiot is a big guy and can surely handle things himself as good as with you." Seto said clearly upset.

"I stay till my pal is save and that's my last word." Joey walked to Seth and looked at Seto "Now are you staying or not?"

"Stupid question." Seto said "You really think I leave you alone with HIM! I'll stay as long as you are."

Solomon had given Seth a translation for everything they had said and Seth now put an arm around Joey's waist from behind him saying "Thank you." He must have caught on to that meaning when Joey had thanked him for the white duel disk on the market.

"Paws off." Seto said and pulled on Joey's arm to get him away from Seth and into his own arm.

"And again," Joey said angrily freeing himself from Seto "I'm not a rope. And FYI this isn't a game."

"That's where you're wrong." Seto said.

And with the constant translation of Solomon Seth added "It is a game and I'm going to win my Joey."

"Only over my dead body." Seto said.

"That can be arragened." Solomon replyed for Seth.

"Will you guys focus?" Yugi interrupted them. "Atemu is in danger let's get going before it's to late."

* * *

><p>Authors Note.<p>

Thanks to BrowneyedShamer, Leviathan of the Sea, Nagareboshi-Lover, silvers-edge, sherabo and Celdria for the reviews.

And BrowneyedShamer asked recently "Will Juno be there?" Well I already chose but I would like to know now what you guys think about him showing up? Let me know in your review!


	6. Kisses

**Kisses.**

One week had passed since Atemu had disappeared which also meant that Joey had to stop Seto and Seth from killing each other for a week now while Yugi got more irritated each time they wasted their time with one of their fights. Yugi managed to ignore their fights whenever they were camping for the night but during the day his temper was getting worse with each passing hour. And the fact that they had to take a few detours to keep Yugi out of sight didn't help. But since he looked too much like the Pharaoh to anyone who didn't know Atemu or Yugi well enough, he would be in danger if anyone saw him. Joey could feel with him. He might not be as worried about Atemu but Seth and Seto were getting on his nerves with their constant fights. The only way to keep them more or less apart was to walk between them. Solomon was the only one who truly enjoyed their trip and loved talking to Seth and was probably bombarding him with countless questions about his culture. Joey was happy about that fact since that also helped a little with the fights. Seth was simply too busy to fight when Solomon questioned him.

They usually rested at a water hole at night but this night they were at an oasis and it was really nice at this one. The water was clear and blue and the vegetation around it thick and colourful. Joey wanted to play in the water but decided against it since Seth was already looking like he was about to drool over him half the time and Seto wasn't that much better. Granted neither one actually did drool but they watched him constantly with a look like they were expecting him to start to strip any second. Unless of course they had another of their death glare contests. And somehow Joey doubted that getting all wet would be helpful. But Seth did either really need a bath or had some sort of plan that Joey didn't get, because for once he actually left Joey's side and went into the water.

He stood waist deep in the water when he dived under for a moment just to come back out seconds after. The water was rolling down his body in little drops while others flew around him making a little rainbow appear in the light of the already setting sun. Joey had a hard time to force himself to turn away from his muscular body and only with his eyes closed he could manage it. But as soon as he opened them his head developed a life of his own and turned back to the water. Seth was still standing there gliding through the water and diving his hand under every now and then to come back up with a rainbow around him.

After watching him for a while Joey suddenly felt an arm grabbing him around the waist and then he heard Kaiba's voice whispering into his ear, saying "You know that I look exactly the same, don't you?"

"Not exactly." Joey said just to annoy him "He's more tanned."

"Do you like that?" Seto asked and Joey was happy to hear that Kaiba was beyond annoyed. "I'm sure I could get just as tanned if you want me to." Joey felt Seto moving his other hand around him as well and the hand moved up along his body to rest over Joey's heart, "What is making your heart beat that fast?" Kaiba asked "Is it because of him in there or because of me holding you?"

_Both _Joey thought but he said "Neither", hoping it would shut Kaiba up so he could go back to the very bad and very dangerous daydream of both Seto and Seth standing there waist deep in the water and him being in between for once enjoying that position. After watching it for just a short while longer he felt himself being picked up a little and moved a few steps to the side. "Hey." Joey said a bit louder. "Put me down, now."

"Shhhh" Seto said "You don't want Seth to hear us and interrupt, do you?"

Joey turned around in Seto's arm to say "Hell, I do. I don't want to be alone with an ass like you", but he never managed to force the words out since he had enough to fight bag drooling himself once he saw that Seto obviously had opted to being half naked even without the excuse of swimming. Joey stared for a moment before forcing his eyes to close so he could at least try to focus the mumbo jumbo in his head. But before he had done that his mind went blank as he felt Seto's lips on his own. All he could was feel the moving of the lips, Seto's teeth when they gently nibbled on his bottom lip coaxing a little moan to come from Joey's lips. Just enough to part his lips a little and for Seto to move his tongue into Joey's mouth. Joey wasn't capable of thinking anymore. He just felt his own arms moving around Seto's neck pulling himself up against his strong body. Joey felt Seto´s arms tighten around his waist and moving him up and pressing him against a tree. Joey felt his own legs move around Seto's waist while his strong arms held him. Joey never actually chose any of this, he simply enjoyed what happened. Unable to think while his head was under shock. The kiss went on for another while until Joey heard something close by and pushed Seto away. Soon after that he saw Yugi walking up around a corner.

"There you are." He said. "There are tasty fruits here and we got the sleeping place ready."

"Great. I'm there in a second, I just need to cool down." Joey said and ran off into the water. He saw Seth somewhere further away but on the shore again. He was obviously looking for him, worried where he had gone to and about the fact that Kaiba was gone, too. Joey was just happy that Seth was out of the water meaning he had it to himself while he dived in before letting himself drift on it without looking to the place where they were about to camp. It was getting dark by now and he could see the moon high above him in the sky. He focused on him trying to ignore the feeling of two pair of eyes watching him in the water. It wasn't as cold as Joey had hoped but helped him calm down a little and think about what had happened. At least until he suddenly heard his name whispered into his ear. He looked up and saw Seth right behind him. For a moment he looked around hoping to see Kaiba and Yugi or at least Solomon to have someone watch them which hopefully would stop Seth from trying something like Kaiba had done moments before.

Unfortunately he had drifted behind some plant that was growing at the side of the lake it looked a bit like reed but Joey wasn't sure what it was. The only thing he did know was that no one could see them while he stood at this place with the water literally up to his neck. "What do you want?" Joey asked carefully trying to move back a little.

Seth looked at him and put one of his hands on Joey's cheek letting his thumb move over Joey's bottom lip. Joey could feel a slight sting where Seto had nibbled and was sure that Seth was able to see something there.

Seth looked at it and his face moved closer. Joey tried to look away but Seth pulled his face back gently and mumbled something Joey didn't understand. Seth pointed to his eyes then to Joey's lip. He leaned closer again but it looked to Joey like he just wanted to look at the wound that Seto must have caused him. "It's fine." Joey mumbled but let him look. Joey closed his eyes while Seth was this close. Feeling his warm breath on his own skin was enough to remind him of the passionate kiss he had just shared with Seto. The memory alone was enough to make his heart work overtime. After feeling Seth's thumb move around his bottom lip once more Joey could feel the warm lips of Seth replacing the thumb. One arm of the tanned man found his way around Joey's waist and he held him tenderly. It was completely different from the kiss with Seto. Seth was much more gentle, much more careful and softer, he was more caring and friendly than Kaiba who was nothing but a jerk.

But Seto could make Joey's mind go blank and Seth couldn't. Joey hadn't been able to stop Seto during the kiss until Yugi's voice got him back to his senses, but now Joey did stop Seth. He looked into his blue eyes and saw how happy he was that Joey had returned the kiss for a while at least. Joey tried to smile at him for a moment but then pressed him away gently. He knew that he would have needed at least twice that much effort to get rid of Kaiba, but Seth simply let go of him looking a little confused, and a lot confused when Joey started to run out of the water as fast as he could.

Joey wanted to get away, away from Seto and away from Seth. Joey was getting more and more confused, he had never thought of Kaiba as hot. Sure he had to admit that the giggling girls that drooled over him had a point, saying that his body was unbelievably sexy. Everyone with eyes had to admit that. But Joey still had never seen him as anything other than a jerk.

Joey walked alone through the vegetation around the big oasis, hoping that none of the others would find him. The only one he could bare to see was Yugi, but he didn't even really want to see him right now either. He knew that Yugi would want to help him but he couldn't. No one could help him now that due to Seto's strange behaviour he had fallen in love with an asshole. _No _Joey thought _I don't like him. I hate him. I've always hated him. And just because he got his stupid genius brain…wait is that possible to have a stupid genius brain, oh who cares… anyway just because he got his brain deep fried on the way here and behaves like some love sick idiot doesn't mean that anything has to happen. I´ll tell them both that I don't want either one and if they don't leave me, tough luck, I just get Atemu's ass saved and then get the hell out of this place and hopefully Seto's brain will be back to normal once he got out of this heat here. And then everything can go back, right back to normal. He will be a jerk and I´ll fight back and that's it._

Joey took a deep breath and then slowly walked back to the camping side. The other four already sat around a small fire someone had started. Joey stayed a bit away and silently lay down in the sand, hoping to have some more peace before he had to say anything. And to his luck they for once they left him alone while he lay there looking away from the others, watching the moonlight light up the sand dunes.

Joey was nearly asleep when Yugi showed up close by his side whispering "They know."

"Who knows what?" Joey asked already half asleep.

"Seto and Seth know that you, well, kissed both of them." Yugi said obviously finding the thought of Joey kissing either of them rather strange.

"And they're still alive?" Joey asked trying to sound upset. "I guess I have to think of a new plan to get rid of them."

"I know you better than to believe that, Joey." Yugi said. "You wouldn't kiss someone just to get them pissed at each other."

"I didn't kiss them." Joey said, before adding in a whisper "They kissed me."

"That explains it all." Yugi said sarcastically but still both were quiet and Joey hoped that Yugi had taken so long because he had waited for the others to fall asleep. But even if they weren't, they talked quietly enough that Joey hoped they wouldn't hear anything anyway. He hardly had heard what the four of them had said before. "You did kiss them back, didn't you? At least that's what they were bragging about before punching each other a black eye."

"Kaiba has a black eye?" Joey asked, suddenly excited. He had never seen him getting hit and would have given a lot to see it at least once. "I should have gotten back sooner."

"So you like Seth more?" Yugi asked.

"He is nicer," Joey said but Yugi knew Joey enough to hear in his voice that there was more to this.

"And Seto?" Yugi asked.

"He's a rough, mean jerk and I bet he'll be right back to normal once this freakishly hot sun stops deep frying his brain." Joey said.

"Why are you sounding so sad about that?" Yugi asked his friend with a knowing smile.

"Yug, I'm tired, please just let me sleep." Joey said to end this conversation.

Yugi was quite for a while but then asked "You love Seto even though he is a jerk while Seth is nice, don't you?"

"That's sick." Joey mumbled half asleep. Yugi waited for another moment and then heard "Why can't I be normal for once?"

"You are normal, Joey." Yugi said. "Just a heart doesn't always listen to what your brain might think would be right. I mean, I love Atemu even though I know that he was just a spirit and I want to see him even though I know that I'll lose him again."

"You love him, don't you?" Joey asked.

"I always have." Yugi said "And now tell me who of us is strange, Yami, I mean Atemu shared my body with me. He was nothing but a ghost and I couldn't even touch him, but I still loved him."

"But he was always nice to you and protected you." Joey said "Kaiba never did shit for me."

"He found you. He was working day and night for weeks to get you back." Yugi said. "I don't think he'll be back to normal, as you called it, once we're back."

"And what do you think I should do?" Joey asked.

"Chose one of them." Yugi said.

"I can't." Joey said. "It doesn't even matter, I want to go home and Seth won't be there and to be honest I don't really mind since all those problems will be gone and I can get away from Kaiba too and then it all will be over and that is all that I want."

"That's a choice too, I guess." Yugi said with a frown "But please tell them that the next time they fight, because Seth said earlier that we'll be reaching the place where Isis saw Atemu shortly after noon. And I want them to focus so we can save him."

"I promise to do what I can but to be honest I doubt that it matters." Joey said "They're a lot alike you know. Not exactly but a lot and both are stubborn and I doubt either one will just give up no matter what I say or decide. Even if I would chose one of them over the other, neither would give up."

"Maybe. But it might help a little." Yugi said.

"Hey, even if they're out of it. Atemu can still count on us, right?" Joey said. "He helped us out more than once and saved you, now it's our turn again."

* * *

><p>Authors Note<p>

silvers-edge wrote in the last review "...Btw, I hope you didn't take my last review as telling you want to write, I get involved in these stories and feel the need to express what I was thinking while I was reading it. I'll try to keep a leash on it. ..." so here is what I think...BURN THE LEASH! I like reading about what my readers think and what they imagine happening next and what they think while reading it. Sometimes I read an idea that I already had written in the story (I'm always a few chapters ahead) and sometimes I liked my idea better so kept mine but still enjoyed imagining the other and a few times I changed a story because I simply loved the idea someone else had.

And now thanks to BrowneyedShamer (my ultimat #1 fan and the first to review the last chapter), dancing elf, silvers-edge, Cel, Nagareboshi-Lover, sadistic-neko and mandapandabug for the reviews.


	7. The fight

**The fight**

The next day Joey was getting more and more worried, but not about finding Atemu. Seth and Seto were oddly quiet all day and Seth definitely was thinking up some sort of plan while Seto looked more like he was waiting for something, with a smug smile on his lips. "Did I miss something?" Joey eventually asked Yugi when both of the others were out of ear shot. "They aren't fighting."

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to get mad at me." Yugi said.

"What did you do?" Joey asked, already sounding upset due to a very bad feeling about this.

"This morning, before you woke up,...well I told them what you said last night, like that you like Kaiba, even though Seth is nicer." Yugi admitted. "I only did it to help Atemu, we have to help him right, you said so yourself. And it might help if they know that you like Kaiba and not Seth And you sort of atmited it last night to me and, well you're going to come back with us so it might help to let Seth know that it's hopless now rather then later."

Joey could see how guilty Yugi felt about this and knew that he would have probably done the same to save Seto as well as Seth. And considering that Joey was sure that Yugi was much closer to Atemu than he could ever get to Seto, who had tortured him for years, he said "I get it, and at least I won't have to say a thing and when I'm back I can still tell Seto that it was only the heat that made me fussy in the head. He'll probably be picking on me for ages but at least I'll get a few good fights that way."

"I still think he really likes you." Yugi said. "I hadn't caught up on it before, he said it but it does explain why he was working so hard on getting you back and why Mokuba knew that he would do his best."

Joey turned around to watch the other three. Solomon was walking in between Seth and Seto, distracting Seth from fighting with his endless questions. Both of the tall man had a top on again, probably to save them from getting sunburned. But considering the bruises on the arms and faces Seto wasn't only wilder with his kisses but in a fight as well. Seth looked a little worse but obviously had gotten a few good swings in, too. Joey liked the fact that Seto had taken a few hopefully painful punches. "I still doubt that he really likes me." Joey said, looking at the smug smile on Seto's face. "He probably just can't resist a good challenge. I disappeared seemingly due to his duel disk and he had to get back in time to get me, that probably was the ultimate challenge and when he arrived and heard that someone who looked exactly like him liked someone, he just had to prove that he was better than his former self and could get me."

"I doubt it." Yugi said "Even Kaiba isn't that cold."

"We'll see when we're back." Joey said.

"I guess we will, but what will you do if he is still flirting with you?" Yugi asked.

"That's easy." Joey said with a grin "I go to the top of his freakishly high Kaiba Corp. building and then jump down."

Yugi chuckled. "Or you end up in his probably freakishly huge bed."

"Like hell." Joey said sounding mad.

"We're nearly there." Joey heard Seto's voice and felt his arm around his waist.

"Paws off." Joey said.

"Why?" Seto said much too pleased with what he knew. "You like it, don't you?"

"Sure, as much as I like a visit to the dentist." Joey said mad at the fact that he sounded upset instead of annoyed as he wanted to sound.

"Fine. But once we're back I'll prove to you that my brain never gets deep fried, you stupid mutt." Seto said.

"Jerk." Joey mumbled.

"Suck it up, I know you like it." Seto said and Joey wanted to punch him.

"I don't like it. I hate it and I hate you, just so you know." Joey said this time easily sounding mad since he was furious right now.

"You only don't want to admit it." Seto said still sounding smug "But I'll make you admit it as soon as we're back. And now quiet down a bit, like I said, we're close."

Joey ignored Seto for now and just forced Kaiba's arms away from around his waist where Seto had left them. Noticing in that moment that he was leaning against the jerk much more than necessary but redeeming that fact quickly.

They were getting closer to a pyramid that even now looked old.

"What's that?" Joey whispered once they were there.

"The pyramid of a death ancestor of Atemu." Solomon said after talking to Seth for a moment. Seth started to walk in when Solomon added "He wants to go in alone first and you all to wait here for about an hour."

Joey looked at Yugi who nodded. After that they both started to count to ten on their fingers without saying anything and then walked right in. "That was not an hour." Seto said.

"Correct and you know what else? I do not listen." Joey explained.

"You really need to be trained, mutt." Seto mumbled.

"Shut it moneybags." Joey whispered, already a few steps into the pyramid.

"Do you have to risk your life?" Seto asked in a whisper.

"If that's the only way to get rid of you," Joey answered, "YES!"

"Quiet." Yugi ordered, rolling his eyes while thinking of the saying 'The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love.'

A loud noise made them hurry along the narrow way and then they stopped at a corner where they could here Seth talking to someone and they listened. "What are they saying?" Joey quietly asked Solomon, who was standing close behind him. "It seems like Seth doesn't want to attack the other. He is trying to talk the other to stop attacking him. This Jōno said that he can't not attack since Niu is holding his sister as a hostage."

Joey looked around the corner to sneak a peek. "Do you have to risk your life? Let me look." Seto mumbled from behind him but Joey simply ignored the overprotective idiot.

But one glance was still enough to make him move back a little bit "Seth will never attack Jōno." He whispered "And why the hell didn't you tell me how creepy this is?" He added looking at Seto.

"What?" Seto asked.

"Why?" Yugi wanted to know.

"Jōno looks like me." Joey said. "As much as Seto and Seth look alike. Seth will never attack him."

"And if Jōno is like you, he won't stop if it is for his sister." Yugi added knowing where this might end.

"He's not going to hurt Seth, not as long as I'm here." Joey said and walked around the corner. "Hey, asshole. Put that dragon of yours back to sleep. Cause now I'm here." Joey looked into the red eyes of the black dragon Jōno had summoned. Seth said something Joey didn't understand. But he didn't care either. He simply pulled two cards from his deck and placed one on the disk to summon it without looking at it. Out came his Red-Eyes B. Chick and Joey used it to special summon his favourite dragon. Jōno stared as he saw his own dragon opposing him. Two of them were now in the room Joey had just entered, filling most of the space. Seth had to press himself against the wall while Seto, Yugi and Solomon stood in the entrance watching them now.

Jōno said something and Joey looked over his shoulder to Solomon. "He still will attack you, even if it means that you both die." The old man translated.

"Great, tell him that I won't die, but he'll die for nothing unless he stops that foolishness and gets his sister out of being a hostage." Joey said. "Tell him that I have a sister as well and that she would never want me to do something like this, so he should suck it up and help us get her out of there instead of helping the guy who holds her hostage." And after that Joey activated a trap that was in place since his duel with Yugi and due to that it worked perfectly and within seconds his own dragon had gotten a nice metal coat on. "Now my dragon is stronger. Think about what your sister would want, boy."

Jōno stared at the now obviously stronger dragon and then at Solomon, who was translating what Joey had said. After another short stare at Joey he just let himself drop to the floor and his dragon disappeared. Seth ran over to Joey looking worried but as soon as he was there Joey grabbed one of his arms, turned him to face Jōno and then pushed him with the words "Jōno is Seth's." Hoping Seth would get the point and stop annoying him with his constand worries. Also, Jōno needed someone much more then Joey ever had and if things were the way Joey feared, Seto might not have gotten his brain deep fried after all. It might be destiny. But unfortunately, Seth didn't move.

"Yugi." Seto asked "If you want to start about that destiny crap again or maybe chat to Joey about soulmates or such things I'd be really grateful."

"I thought you don't believe in it." Joey said.

"I don't." Seto explained "But you tend to believe it. And I use whatever advantage I can get."

"For all that's holy." Joey mumbled before saying more clearly "Maybe it is only destined that you get on my nerves."

"Either way." Yugi said. "We should go on. We still have to get Atemu and it seems like we now need to save a young girl as well."

"You're right." Joey said.

"Oh before I forget." Solomon said "Seth wanted to know why in the name of Ra you're here already?"

"Tell him I never listened to anyone and I sure as hell won't start to listen to him now." Joey said.

"That's my feisty Joey." Kaiba said.

"Shut that hole under your nose or I'll shut it for you…with my fist." Joey said angrily.

"How about you exchange fist with lips?" Seto suggested.

"How about I exchange it with a dagger instead?" Joey said.

"Just let's go." Yugi said before Seto could open his mouth for another reply.

They walked on, Seth walking ahead and soon they were hearing voices again. "We're there." Solomon said. "I can hear that Atemu is there. He said that his guards would find him and kill the other. But someone else is saying that whoever is trying to save Atemu is as good as dead and all thanks to a little boy that can control a dragon that might be a match to the white one of high priest Seth."

"Foolish idiot, if Seth would have had the guts to fight, the boy would be dead." Seto whispered.

"Would you fight, Joey?" Yugi asked him.

The silence that followed and the expression on Seto's face said it all. He would never attack Joey unless he was sure that Joey would survive it at the very least. A little fight was one thing, but risking Joey's life was something Seto could never do. This time they didn't need to look to know what was expecting them. Jōno had told them already that the paraoh and his sister were in a cage over some spicks and that Niu had a knife to cut the rope that kept the cage up. He was always close to that rope and Jōno had never dared to do anything since he had no idea how to get her out of that dangerous place. But Joey had just looked at Yugi and both had smiled, much to the surprise of all the others. Now both used their fingers to count till three and on the last count stepped out into the open. "Hey, stupid." Joey said. "I'm so going to kick your ass for threatening my pal and the little sis of what seems to be my former life...or what ever the hell it is."

Yugi and Joey simultaneously drew cards from their disks at the same time Niu cut the rope. The last thing they all saw was the cage falling towards the spicks below before the whole room was filled with Kuribus. Nothing else was visible since the little fur balls were already touching each other.

By the time enough of them had disappeared to see anything, the cage was on the ground and broken but some of the metal bars were steaming and smouldered. And Atemu and the young girl, who looked exactly like Serenity were standing unharmed next to the Flamed Swordsman.

Atemu ran towards a pile of golden pieces. "The puzzle" Yugi mumbled and Joey immediately caught on that the puzzle obviously was taken apart by that Niu.

Niu himself looked furious. He said something and then pulled on a rope which took one little stone out of the celing. The pyramid started to tremble and Solomon said in fear. "He's bringing the whole pyramid down on us to win. He doesn't even care to get out himself."

Suddenly a big Blue Eyes White Dragon was above them all, his huge wings keeping the falling stones from them. But the dragon got closer to them by the second unable to carry the weight.

"It's too much for one Blue Eyes." Seto mumbled before pulling some cards himself for the first time. Seconds later there was an even bigger dragon with three heads and Seth stared at Seto whose dragon was getting higher up. Dust and small stones were flying through the air and the ground seemed to shake.

By the time the sun came through the dust and the rumble settled, they could see that a good part of the top from the pyramid was gone and they were standing unharmed in the middle of the rubble. The only one missing was Niu. Joey could see the siblings hug and cuddle and Seth watching Jōno before looking to Joey.

* * *

><p>Authors Note.<p>

The next update might take a tiny bit longer. The chapter is sort of write, but I'm thinking about rewriting it and change it a lot since I got another Idea...or rather two others. I might actually write multiple possible endings for this story because I simply love all three ideas! But I'm not sure yet and will need some time to think about it.

And thanks to BrowneyedShamer, Leviathan of the Sea, Nagareboshi-Lover, TheRoseThatKnowsPain, silvers-edge and sherabo for the reviews.

Also I'm a staff member of sherabo's community "SHOW YOUR STUFF YUGIOH 2002 to 2010" And there are lots of cool story's. And thanks to Sherabo for the invite! (hug)


	8. Destiny

**Destiny.**

Joey sat in the shade that the remains of the pyramid let through. He saw Atemu sitting a bit away and next to him stood Seth who watched Jōno. Joey wasn't sure what Jōno was still hanging around for but the way Jōno looked at Seth, Joey hoped that Seth would get over him really fast after all. Yugi was standing next to Joey and watched Atemu with a sad look while Seto was on Joey's other side and examined his duel disk with an upset look on his face that Joey couldn't understand.

"Is everything all right?" Joey asked him.

"I guess." Seto said. "Don't worry, I´ll get you home just like I´ve promised."

Joey watched him work for a moment until he heard "We´ll have to go soon, won't we?" Joey looked at the small spiky haired friend of his who had spoken with so much sadness in his voice.

"I guess we will." Joey said sounding a bit sad as well. "Don't you want to talk to Atemu before we go? You haven't even said a word to him. I was sure you wuld run to him and hug him the second we were all safe."

"No." Yugi said. "He doesn't even remember me and still is looking over here every now and then. You know, Seth said his other half was to help him in our time and I guess that would be me." Joey saw that Yugi was fighting back tears "It was so hard to watch him disappear, and I stll miss him so much every day that it hurts. I have to fight tears so often because I don't want to worry anyone, but it's really hard. I don't want to get too close to Atemu and then disappear on him. I don't want him to feel the same pain."

Joey stared at Yugi for a moment and then grabbed Kaiba's hand. "Come with me now." Once they were out of earshot from Yugi he asked "Solomon is here and he doesn't have a disk, how is that possible?"

"Yugi took him along, taking a big risk and to be honest I fear that it was too much of a risk." Seto said looking to the duel disk he was still holding in his hands.

"I have just about enough energy left on mine to take us both home, Yugi must have used up more to take his grandfather with him, I fear he doesn't have enough left."

"I have mine, can't you take Solomon?" Joey asked suddenly upset and looked at the energy level on his. He hadn't even thought about it before.

"No, you can't. Until I examine yours, which will need a lot of tools that I couldn't take with me, I won't know how you got here with a normal and on top of it broken duel disk. I didn't even take the time to examine the changes mine had gone under after the first trip, never mind Yugi's, now." Seto explained. "I don't know how to get you back with yours this way. You'll need to go with one of us."

"Can you get the energy from mine to one of the others?" Joey asked noticing that his one was strangely full.

"If you still have some left, sure it will help making the journey for Solomon and Yugi safer." Seto answered. "But why are you asking all of this?"

"Just hypothetically, if there is enough energy, could Yugi take two with him safely?" Joey asked.

"None of this is safe." Seto said "But yes, in theory he could take the risk of taking someone with him but there is always a risk."

"What risk?" Joey asked.

"I have no idea what will happen if the energy runs out." Seto answered honestly. "But why do you want to know this, Joey? If you're planning on going with them just to avoid going with me, then forget it. I won't let you take such a risk. I rather have Solomon go with me if I must."

"Nope that's fine. How much energy would you need because mine is nearly full." Joey said holding his up.

"Yugi's would need to be full at the very least." Seto answered looking worried as well as confused "I don't know how much he needs to reach that, neither do I know how much you still have on your's but considering how much I've lost and that he hadn't summoned much more than I had and the potential of a normal duel disk I guess that if you have more than three quarters full it should be sufficient."

"Great, wait here." Joey said and grabbed Solomon's hand who was sitting a bit closer to the Egyptians, probably hoping to overhear a bit more from them since it was his last chance to study this civilisation while it was still alive. "I need your help." Joey told him "I need to talk to Seth and most of all to Atemu, will you help me?"

"Sure, but why?" Solomon asked in surprise. But Joey just dragged him closer to the pharaoh, who was still sitting there with his puzzle.

"Hey pal." Joey said to Atemu waiting for Solomon to translate.

"He asked if he knows you apart from the fact that you materialised in his gardens?" Solomon said. "And he sounds a bit upset probably because you weren't very polite."

"Who cares about politeness? He'll get to know me the way I am and like me then, won't he?" Joey said. "And now tell him that I know all about the shadow games because we're from that time where he'll need to return and fight them again and well that fight has ended and we kicked butts together."

Joey watched Solomon sigh and was sure that he would change the formulation and be more polite in the translation.

"He want's to know if Yugi is himself in that time?" Solomon said.

"Tell him, nope. Yugi pieced the puzzle together and his sprit shared a body with him until he disappeared and left Yug behind." Joey said. "Oh and tell him that I'm pretty sure that Yugi helped him the most, so I guess that he is this other half Seth had talked about."

Joey watched Atemu´s face, looking over to Yugi in astonishment once Solomon had translated that for him and then said something that sounded sad.

"He said that he'll have to disappear again." Solomon translated "And I think that he is upset because he fears that it will hurt Yugi."

"Tell him that he's wrong again." Joey said. "We'll be disappearing from here and go back to our own time."

Once more Atemu looked sad after the translation. "He said it was only fair that Yugi will leave, since he would have to find a way to activate that magic that obviously had gone wrong."

"Who said it went wrong?" Joey asked. "Tell him, that I think it worked perfectly and that Seth was right and I did appear here because of it. I mean what if Atemu and Yugi deserve some sort of reward for everything they did for this world? I mean, Atemu, you were willing to disappear, you saved the world twice…well once yet but for us in our time it's twice...oh you get what I mean. And Yug helped you then and he came here and we helped you now too, right? So I think you and Yugi deserve to be together. And Kaiba just told me that it is a bit risky but that someone could come with us. The only thing I need to know before talking to Yugi is if everyone apart from him is willing to take that risk since Yugi definitely will and will only get down if someone takes that chance from him."

"I'll definitely let Atemu go with us, no matter what can happen. I believe that Seto hates failure enough to get us all home safely." Solomon said before even translating it all. Joey now saw not only Atemu's eyes widen but Seth's as well and hoped that Seth wouldn't want to come with them, too. After a short conversation with both Egyptians, Solomon said: "Atemu wants to come and since he first wanted to fix the puzzle, I told him to not bother with it since that's exactly the way Yugi got it and that he'll be able to fix it."

"Great, then you two tell Yugi. I´ll get Kaiba to prepare the disks, he'll need to get more energy on Yugi's or it won't work for sure. But I have enough on mine he thinks."

Joey walked with to Yugi with Atemu and Solomon, while Seth took the pieces of the puzzle and walked to Jōno and his sister. "He wanted me to tell you something." Solomon said to Joey while pointing at Seth. "He wants you to know that he'll never forgets you and will always love you but that he can see now that you belong into your own time and with Kaiba and he hopes that you'll be happy."

"Jeez, he's mushy." Joey mumbled with a slight blush, slightly wondering if in some different time there was some guy somewhere, who was in between a total jerk like Kaiba and a charming mushy guy like Seth but please with the same body and taste. If there was, he would definitely buy a ticket to that time.

"Yug, I need your disk for a moment. Seto needs to do something with it before we can go home." Joey said and waited for the smaller one to hand his purple looking disk over. And then walked over to Kaiba. He knew that Yugi had heared of his plan, by the time he heard Yugi was happily squeaking. Joey looked at them for a second, happy to see them hug.

"Atemu's coming with us." Joey simply said to Seto and handed him his disk.

"Why?" Seto asked.

"Because I say so and now get the energy from mine over to Yugi's." Joey simply said and handed him both.

Half an hour, and a lot of kissing from Atemu and Yugi, later Seto told Joey: "It will be really close. Yugi's is only nearly full and mine just more than half. From what was on Yugi's I guess even for us it will be much closer than I like. Can't we leave Atemu and get some from Yugi's to mine? It would be saver."

"No way," Joey said and took his own black one from Seto, He couldn't let Yugi down, not now. Without thinking he put the duel disk back on his arm and the next thing he noticed is that everything was black.

When Joey opened his eyes he looked at the ceiling of a way too nice looking place. And on top of it a pleasantly fresh place. Too fresh for where he should be, it should be much warmer but Joey's head felt sort of fussy and so he just turned around to sleep a bit longer. "Are you better?" He heard someone say. He knew the voice but wasn't sure from where.

"Shut it. I'm sleepy." Joey mumbled, his eyes closed once more.

"But you aren't hurt, are you?" The same voice asked worried.

"Why would I?" Joey asked. "I just had a funny dream."

"If you dreamed that you got that annoying pharoh back into our time after flirting with an even more annoying high priest, then you didn't dream." The same voice said and by the end of that sentence the words and the memory had gotten Joey's sleepy brain wide awake again.

"Kaiba!" He screamed and was suddenly sitting straight in bed looking around the huge room and noticing the spacious bed he was on. He saw Seto typing on his laptop that was on a desk in a corner of the room. "How the hell did I get here?"

"Through the door." Seto simply answered.

"Realy? I thought I flew through the window." Joey mumbled upset. "And now the whole story, what have I missed? Ya said I got Atemu back here so how is he and what about Yug and his grandpa? Did everything work out fine? You said it was risky with the energy we had."

"It would have been, and sort of still was." Seto said " But I found out where the energy on your disk was from."  
>Joey watched how Seto walked around the desk and over to the bed. He sat down close to Joey who moved a little bit away. Joey was a bit freaked about how things were between them now.<p>

"Would you care to tell me the rest? And how long was I out?" Joey asked "Or do I need to go to Yug and ask him?"

"I doubt that you could walk five steps. You've only been out for 3 hours and I would have bet you would sleep for at least a day." Seto said.

"Wanna bet." Joey said. He did feel pretty weak but not nearly that weak. He got out of bed and had a feeling like someone filled his legs with jelly. But he definitely could go five steps and then some, he knew though that he probably would get in big trouble about half way to Yugi's place.

"I'm impressed." Seto said. "And now sit down and I'll tell you. Firstly because I still worry if you can make it all the way , secondly because I might disturb Atemu and Yugi, which I don't really care for but I know you do and thirdly, still need to prove to you that my brain didn't get deep fried."

"Then you better spill it and hurry up." Joey said and set down on a comforter in the corner.

"Why don't you sit here with me?" Seto asked clearly upset.

"Because I don't want you to try and distract me." Joey admitted with a blush.

"I would distract you?" Seto asked.

"Okay, Yugi's place it is." Joey said and stood up, still feeling like he had nothing but jelly in his legs but it was clearly getting a bit better.

But before Joey had even opened the bedroom door he felt a hand on his left upper arm and was spun around by it and Joey felt himself being pressed with his back against the door. Joey just wanted to tell Kaiba to piss off when his mouth was suddenly covered with Seto's. For a split second Joey wanted to stop Seto but the kiss was once again simply too good. It was like Joey's head had walked on without him leaving him to be unable to do anything other than enjoying Kaiba's hungry and wild kisses. Joey forgot all about the questions he had, while Seto happily used the fact that Joey was turning into goo under his capable lips and hands and soon after Joey was once more on Seto's bed where Seto quickly got rid of their clothing.

It took a few moments until a little voice in the back of Joey's head started to gently remind him that he was currently making out with the hated Kaiba and Joey actually managed to whisper "Wait.." between kisses.

Kaiba looked smug and mumbled "Why? You like it, don't you?" and then he continued seducing the helpless blond under him.

Much later when Joey's brain had returned and he lay tired in the other´s arms he mumbled "You're mean."

"Really? I never heard that one before." Kaiba said sounding much too amused for Joey's taste.

"You used the fact that I'm still fuzzy. After all I pased out for some reason and I was in a different time for over a month." Joey said.

"Right and that is the only reason it was so easy to seduce you, wasn't it?" Kaiba said with a smug smile.

"Just wait till I'm better, I swear you'll regret this." Joey tried to threaten but his tired voice and the way he was still cuddled up to his former rival made it a fruitless effort. "And now tell me what happened."

Seto looked at his blond lover with a smug smile and was happy to finally have him in his arms. "What do you remember?"

"I remember that you talked about the energy level and that it would be a risk to take Atemu and then I put that cool black disk back on and well everything went black." Joey said.

"Why did you put it back on, it was useless?" Seto asked.

"It isn't useless." Joey said "It is cool."

"It is scrab metal and in the bin." Seto said.

"How dare you? It's the only one I have, I could have charged it. I'm sure I would have found the charger at some point." Joey complained.

"And risk dying with the next malfunction and by the way whatever changed those three disks, it stopped, they´re all the way they were before. And here." Seto opened the drawer of his bedside table, and then threw the a black duel disk with red marks that was in there at Joey. Joey picked it up and stared. It was much better than the one he had seen in a shop. Much more and clearer detailed. He looked up at Seto, who said "I made that one for you, hoping you would like it and beg me to give you one, so I could get at least one date out of you." Seo grinned as he remembered how he had imagined that scene, Joey begging him for that disk and all the bad thoughts about what he could make Joey do in return. "But the duel disk was too detailed for mass production and they weren't nearly good enough to make YOU beg."

"This one is." Joey said. "And you're really giving this to me?"

"It was made for you." Seto smiled at him.

"Great, now we're not even kissing and you're still distracting me." Joey mumbled. "Will I ever find out how I got back here in once piece? Did Niu come back? Did he hit me on the head or something else? What was it? I never blacked out before."

"I believe that." Seto said. "You have more strength than anyone I ever knew."

"Seto, please just tell me what the hell happened." Joey was getting more and more curious by the second.

"Niu, who by the way was an accomplice of Bakura and told by the little devil that Atemu had to be killed but that Niu was free to kidnap and get some money for him before killing him, never returned, he probably died. And now to you, at first I thought you got a heat stroke because nothing touched you." Seto said and after seeing the shocked expression on Joey's face, he said: "The disk was recharging itself. And your breathing got weaker by the second. I took the disk off you and your condition got more stable again. I tried giving you that damnd disk back a bit later after you were getting better but only for a moment since the disk hardly had touched your arm and it was charging again. Somehow it got energy of you that's why it was nearly full. It charged itself up to that point. Getting slower, the further it was to be full. Since it was empty it took too much out of you and I guess that's why you fainted. But it also means that you summoned that monster with your own energy. And I hope you don't mind but since your one was once more nearly full I recharged both of the other completely before we left for home. You on my arms."

"If I have so much energy," Joey asked "Why did I always lose against you then?"

"Because you have no skills." Seto said with a smug smile.

"Oh, bite me." Joey said upset.

"Sure, just tell me where. But first, anything else you want to know? Or can I start distracting you again?" Seto asked with a wicked grin.

"Go ahead and distract me as much as you want to." Joey said with a wicked grin and stood up. "As long it is with food." And then he grabed Kaiba´s shirt, put it on and walked out of the room to find a kitchen. Leaving Seto behind who was happy that Joey at least didn't leave the mansion and Seto would make damn sure that Joey never would.

* * *

><p>Authors note:<p>

Thanks to sadistic-neko, Nagareboshi-Lover, mandapandabug, silvers-edge, sherabo and Angel-Belle for the reviews.

I thought a lot about the ending and like the other ideas better but I can't really make them work the way I want them to without having inconsistencies with earlier parts in this one and I don't want to rewrite everything so I kept the original ending the way I wanted it too and will use the other idea in another story. I will rewrite the dogsitter one next and put it in there.

I will still write an epilogue since there will otherwise be some questions open. Like how Atemu will cope in this time with the language and such. It is all written and will be up very soon.


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

„Joey." Yugi screamed once he saw his friend enter the shop of his grandfather. Not at all surprised that Seto Kaiba was right behind him "How are you? I was so worried when you suddenly fainted. And Seto, why didn't you call me when he woke up? You promised."

Joey looked furious at Kaiba and said "I always told ya that Kaiba's an idiot, so why did ya trust that guy?"

"Yeah but he promised." Yugi mumbled.

"Whatever," Joey said "I'm here now and I'm just fine."

"And I see you brought Kaiba with you." Yugi said.

"No, I didn't bring him." Joey said "He just followed me like a dog."

"Who's the dog?" Kaiba asked.

"Well, you did follow me here even though I told you that you can go to work or whatever the hell else you want to do." Joey said "And I always wanted to get back at you for all the dog comments."

"Why didn't you, big bro." Mokuba, who had arrived at the shop a while before, asked. "I told you I'd bring the papers you organized for Atemu over. Or did you need me for something?"

"I'm most certainly not here for the annoying pharaoh." Kaiba said.

"Nice to see that you still like me, cousin." Atemu said.

"Wait, since when do you speak English?" Joey asked surprised.

"Since I got here." Atemu said "It seams you were right and I truly was meant to come here. Even though I still don't know anything that happened. And some things are very confusing, but I can deal with it. I like it here."

"And you're still the same." Yugi said. "And I'll tell you everything you might want to know. And introuce you to my friends. You liked them, or will like them."

"I wonder." Seto mussed "You were our age when you showed up. But you don't know anything about it now, does that mean your spirit gets locked in that puzzle back in the past once you die here and since you were young you'll die soon or will your spirit simply look the age of the body you´re in and you simply keep your sort of return a secret from Yugi, letting him suffer for nothing?"

"I guess neither." Joey said, seeing the fear in Yugi's eyes at the thought of losing Atemu again.

"What do you think then?" Seto asked sarcastically.

"I bet his spirit is already in the puzzle, or rather a copy of it." Joey said "It would explain why he didn't know a thing about Yugi back then either. I mean he loves him, he wouldn't let him suffer and why should the magic go through all the trouble to get him here and then simply let him die?"

"Then I guess I'm fine." Atemu said "You were right before. I'm obviously supposed to be here just like you said. It also does mean that my dear cousin is wrong."

"Your dear cousin is a rotting mummy." Seto said "And just so you know. I hate your guts."

"Then why are you here?" Atemu asked.

"Just making sure that Joey is safe around you." Seto said. "I don't want him to disappear to Egypt again."

"He won't." Solomon said. "I told you about the medallion and where it was found, right?"

"If this is a bed time story then quit it and if not get to the point and quit wasting my time." Seto ordered.

"Oh the pyramid was yours." Solomon said. "Or rather your former self Seth's one. And I told you that there were two mummies in it. The blond hair wasn't from either one, we all know it's Joey's."

"Wait." Joey said "He kept my hair? And when did he get that?"

"But they assumed first that it belongs to the second one." Solomon said ignoring Joey's comment. "Because his hair is also blond. I guess that it means it's Jōno."

"You see," Seto said "I'm not destined to annoy you."

"Maybe not." Joey admitted. "But then again, you might have annoyed me to death and just placed me there due to your own selfish interests. And now where the hell did that creep get my hair?"

"He cut it off when you slept in his arms the night after you appeared out of thin air." Atemu finally informed Joey.

"You slept in his arms?" Kaiba asked.

"There wasn't much of a choice there." Joey said "Either that or the floor."

"You should have chosen the floor." Seto said.

"Big bro." Mokuba interrupted them "Since you suddenly care about that, does that meant that you and Joey are together now?"

"Like hell." Joey said grumpy.

"Like he said." Seto agreed. "Like hell, yes."

"NO" Joey said. "You're a jerk."

"And you like it." Seto said

"I don't." Joey disagreed.

"And what was that last night? You did sl…" Seto started to say until Joey covered his mouth with his hand.

"Finish that sentence and you're in big trouble, mister." Joey threatened before removing his hand.

"Fine." Seto said with a grin. "Then admit what you truly feel."

"I did. I hate you." Joey said.

"Fine. Joey and I sl…" Once more Seto's mouth was covered by Joey.

"All right you win." Joey quickly said since he knew that he wouldn't be around do stop Seto every time he might try. "You're a great kisser, and hot and sexy and all but you´re still a jerk."

"And?" Seto asked.

"Nothing and." Joey answered.

"Didn't you forget to say that you love me?" Seto asked.

"No, I didn't." Joey said. "I don't love a jerk."

"And what about me distracting you?" Seto asked him again.

"It's just because I'm fuzzy in the head after being gone for so long." Joey said.

"Sure," Seto said ironically. "How long do you think that excuse is going to work for you?"

Joey simply blushed and looked away. "I really like you." Seto said and put an arm around Joey and whispered into his ear. "I know I'm a jerk, but I'll stop calling you mutt if you stop saying that you hate me. Deal?"

Joey eyed his long time rival. His blue eyes looked sincere and Joey could feel Seto's hand move along his arm a little. The way Seto touched him reminded Joey of the night before. Joey took a deep breath and closed his eyes trying to fight of the feeling he got from that memory by imagining a naked Pegasus. It worked perfectly. It worked, but Joey still couldn't fight saying "Deal" as soon as he opened his eyes and saw those blue eyes looking right into his own.

"I knew I'd win." Seto said.

"I only agreed to not SAYING that I hate you." Joey said with a smug smile. "Not that I'm not allowed to feel that way."

"Don't push me." Seto said and Joey decided to better listen just this once since he feared that Kaiba could manage to make his mind go blank even with his friends around.

"What happened while I was gone anyway and how long was I gone?" Joey asked to change the subject.

"Seto locked himself into his lab and office to get you back and I managed the business." Mokuba said "But I was really worried when it took a whole week for him to get back with you from the past."

"And how long was I gone now?" Joey asked again.

"The same amount of days as you were in the past it seems." Yugi answered, who had found that out by talking to Atemu once they were both speaking the same language.

"WHAT?" Joey said slightly freaking out. "What about dad? What does he think where I was? I mean he must be worried sick!"

"Oh no," Yugi said "Once I knew that Kaiba was working on getting you back I covered for you by saying that your trying to get a job but had to stay there for that. Just for a while."

"For what kind of job would I need that?" Joey asked confused about what he would have to tell his dad but relieved that his father hadn't worried.

"I would have an idea." Seto said with a smug smile.

"What idea?" Joey asked with a look that clearly said that he didn't trust Kaiba.

"You could say that you got a job as my personal chef or butler." Seto suggested "I wouldn't mind giving you such a position as long as it makes you stay with me."

"You're kidding." Joey said. "But at least I've got an excuse. And dad wouldn't even be surprised to hear that ya fired me."

"I never did." Seto said.

"I need to give a reason for coming home and you don't believe for a second that I´ll stay with ya." Joey said.

"I think you will." Seto said and moved his face closer to Joey's. His lips were close to kiss the helpless blond who couldn't move an inch.

But just before Seto managed to kiss Joey, his phone rang. Seto looked at the display and groaned before picking it up. Joey took a deep breath partly happy to have escaped getting kissed by Seto right in front of his friends but also partly sad that he didn't get to feel Seto's talented lips on his own.

Once Seto had finished the call sounding rather upset towards the end he looked at Joey and said "Stay here. I'll pick you up soon. I just have to get a small problem sorted." And then he left.

"He doesn't really believe himself that I'll stay, does he?" Joey asked Mokuba. "Even he should know me better than that."

"You were with him last night." Mokuba said.

"I know, but he should know that I never listen." Joey said with a wicked grin. "And I wonder how long it will take him to come and get me if I avoid him for a day or two."

"You do love him, don't you?" Mokuba asked.

"I guess a little." Joey said.

"If you love him, why do you play hard to get?" Mokuba asked worried that Joey might be playing with his older brother even though it wouldn't be like him.

"Because he is cute when he gets pissed." Joey said with a wicked grin. "Don't worry kiddo, I'm just making sure that your brother will NEVER get bored again."

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

Thanks to Nagareboshi-Lover and silvers-edge for the reviews.

That was it for the story. I hope you liked it and had a good time reading it.

Thanks for reading it all the way to the end.


	10. Bonus chapter Jōno

Authors note: I know I already had this completed. And I said something about different endings and this isn't really a different ending but a different perspective of the ending. I chose not to do different endings since I like that one now but I read over some of the reviews and noticed that many wondered about what happened to Seth and Jōno after Joey had left. So I'm going to write a bonus chapter from Jōno's point of view. Enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Jōno<strong>

I can't believe this is happening to me. I'm facing the guy I secretly love. I loved him ever since I saw him walking over the market with the Pharaoh one day. But it isn't like I have a choice. This Niu holds my little sister as a hostage, and all just because he saw my dragon. But priest Seth wouldn't love me anyway, even if we where on the same side, so it hardly makes a difference. Everyone knows that he only loves the girl that died when her dragon was sealed. The same dragon priest Seth will most likely summon any moment. Everyone is sure that he'll never love anyone else, so I have always avoided the fearsome priest that supposedly is very strict.

I'm still hoping that he'll summon it fast, so this ends quickly when a guy shows up behind Seth. I stare at the blond man that looks so much like me that it feels like I look into my own reflection on the water, just that it's a bit pale. He says something but I have no idea what it is.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Seth asks him and I hear the worry in his voice. The next thing I see is that the other blond takes something from a device on his arm and then I see a little dragon baby appear. I'm about to laugh and ask if he wants to fight my dragon with a baby but then the baby disappears and is replaced with a mighty black dragon. A dragon that looks just like mine and I bet that they have the same strength. I'm sort of happy about this. At least now I don't have to fight priest Seth.

"Don't get your hopes up." I say to the blond, "I will fight you, even if it kills the both of us."

I hear someone else saying something gibberish. It sounds a bit like what the blond said, the one who looks like me. I hear the blond answer and then his dragon suddenly changes. He grows in size and I fear that he'll be too big and bring the whole thing down on us all but he stops growing just in time. He looks like some sort of metal is around him, like it isn't even a real dragon, more like some hand made one. I hear the blond saying something in his strange tongue and then hear the old man in the back speaking again, but this time I understand him. "Joey wants me to tell you that he won't die, but that you'll die for nothing unless you stop this foolishness and get your sister out of being a hostage instead. You should know that Joey has a younger sister as well and he said that she would never want him to do something like this and assumes that your sister wouldn't want you to attack someone either. You could help us to get her out of there, instead of helping the guy who holds her as a hostage. You're not alone anymore. His dragon is stronger now. Think about what your sister would want, boy."

I stare at the blond guy standing there. He looks like me but he clearly is much stronger than I'll ever be. I see priest Seth looking at him worried but also proud. But what is worse... I see two more standing close to the entrance of the room. Close to the old man that talked to me and translated the words of the guy called Joey. One of them looks like priest Seth, just a bit paler and he stares at me for a moment but then his eyes move to watch Joey with the same mixture of pride and worry. But his eyes move over to priest Seth every now and then and he looks angry. He clearly loathes him for some reason.

I wish he could look at me the way he looks at the blond. I don't know him but I feel my heart beat accelerate just like it had the first time I saw priest Seth. I look at Joey and wish I could be like him. He stands there strong and brave, knowing what he has to do with the obvious love from not just one but two great looking and probably strong and powerful men. I let myself drop to the floor and call my dragon back. It's hopeless to even try to fight and he's right, my sister wouldn't want me to fight knowing that I would die. I wanted Seth to end my life. I knew that his dragon would be stronger than mine, felt it deep down and wished him to attack me. I don't want to live this life where I have nothing but my sister. Nothing but the responsibility to take care of her. Our parents died long ago and we live from what little I can steal or what she gets from begging on the streets. I hate seeing my sister beg but at least she gets a little bit from some people with that cute and innocent face of hers. I never get anything for free, and no one cares for me.

Priest Seth and the old man, who introduces himself as Solomon, ask me a lot of questions about the situation my sister and the pharaoh are in and they promise to help me. Joey seems to be especially keen on helping my sister, while the little one who actually looks a little like the pharaoh, just smaller, paler and more innocent, only seems to care for the pharaoh. But I can't be sure. I only know what Solomon translates. But I notice that priest Seth seems to look at me a lot ever since Joey pushed him towards my direction, saying something I don't understand. Maybe he wants me to be held captive after attacking them, or he simply wants me questioned. I don't know why he might have the power to push priest Seth around though. But it probably has less to do with power than with feelings. Seth cares for him, just like the other brunet man that looks like Seth. I don't know his name; I haven't even heard him saying a word. He doesn't seem to care about anything but making sure that nothing harms Joey. How I envy Joey.

We walk closer to the chamber where the pharaoh and my sister are held. I tell them everything I know and how careful they have to be but Joey seems to be very sure of himself and smiles all the time. He seems so carefree and happy that I envy him even more. Once there I see him and the smaller guy entering the chamber and Joey says something that I doubt Niu can understand and then I hear a lot of noise. I walk in after them hoping that my sister is save but all I see is a bunch of strange brown furry little monsters. It takes a while till they're all disappeared, one after the other and then I see my sister next to a monster that burns and the pharaoh is close there too, both unharmed. I hear Niu swearing and then see him pulling a rope that dislocates a stone far above us. I hear the strange people talking to each other while the pyramid is starting to crumble down. We're all going to die.

I run to my sister, hoping that I can at least be with her when I see priest Seth's dragon above us, trying to keep the pyramid from crushing us but even his dragon isn't strong enough. I watch helplessly while his dragon lowers and wonder if it will help if my dragon comes out and takes some of the weight from the crumbling pyramid. But before I can summon my dragon I watch the guy that looks so much like priest Seth summon a dragon in a similar way as Joey had before. He has a similar device but like Joey's dragon was stronger than mine, his one is stronger than priest Seth's one. Much stronger, the dragon he summoned has three heads and seems to have no trouble at all to keep the stones away and they all fall to both sides of the huge wings and keeps all of us safe. I look to the man and see him standing close to Joey, watching him and holding his strange clothing partly over Joey. The white fabric keeping the smaller stones that are falling around Joey away from him. Joey just makes himself small and covers his head with his arms. I look over to priest Seth and see a longing but also defeated look on his face.

It all is over fast. I don't see Niu but he stood further away than the rest of us and I assume that he has been crushed somewhere beneath the rubble that surrounds us. We all climb out of the rubbles silently and stand next to the remains of the pyramid. I take my sisters hand and pull her a bit further away, close to a small tree and wait there in the shadows. "Are you hurt?" I ask my sister just to be sure that she is well.

"I'm fine," She says and smiles at me. "You saved me big brother, you're the best."

"I wish you where right." I say and watch the others that are still close to the pyramid. There seems to be an invisible line though. The priest is close to the pharaoh and I see him looking over to me a lot. I wonder if he'll see me as a stand in for Joey, since he obviously has given up on him. The other one, the one who looks like him, is stronger and clearly closer to Joey.

I don't know why I'm staying, I don't want to be second choice and I don't want to risk to get punished but I find it hard to just walk away after being so close to the man I admired for so long and a man who seems to be even better.

But Joey and the three other strangely dressed people were a little further away. The old one who speaks my tongue is the closest to the pharaoh and priest Seth. I mostly watch Seth though, his stare seems to be hypnotic and I wonder if he is watching me because he's afraid that I run off and he can't punish me for attacking him at the start. I remember how he had promised to not harm me and help me save my sister. I hadn't believed him though, not until I saw Joey and knew that he had a sister too, he seemed to understand.

I watch Joey walking over to the pharaoh and Seth with the older guy with him. I see Seto eyeing him but he stays where he is with the strange device and he seems to be working on it. "Maybe we should leave." I hear my sister say and look at her for a moment. "They might be upset that you were there to help Niu."

"Maybe." I say but just look back to Seth and don't move. I watch Joey going to his strange friends and the pharaoh walks with him while Seth is coming over to me. "But I guess it's too late now."

I feel my sister holding my hand. Her hand shakes, probably from fear for my life. I just stand where I am and watch priest Seth taking one step after the other towards my sister and me. Once he's where we are he turns and watches the others silently and I too start to look over. I hear the smallest of that strange group make a strange squeaking noise and then see him hugging and kissing the pharaoh. I feel myself blushing and eye the pharaoh. The little guy is probably in trouble, now that he behaved like that but Seth just watches and the Pharaoh actually smiles happily.

I watch them a little longer with Seth silently next to me and wonder what it means.

"He didn't mean to hurt anyone." My sister says after a while and I see her look, begging at Seth. "Please, don't punish him."

"I have no intention to do that." He answers her in a calm voice. "But I don't want to see his dragon ever again."

"Why not?" I ask fiercely. "It isn't like I wanted to attack you with it? And I didn't really I waited for you to call your one, knowing that it's stronger so why should you forbid me to use my dragon?"

I see him looking at me slightly surprised and then he smiles "Don't even try to be fierce. I'm used to worse than you now."

I see him looking over to Joey and get even angrier. "Then why aren't you over there? Oh yeah, he got another one."

"Technically, no." He answers and looks a little confused himself. "If I got it right, that other one over there is me, and Joey is you." I stare at him for a moment and wonder if he's got a heat stroke. "They're from another time. From the future." He explains after seeing my confused and probably worried face. "At least that's what they said and it does explain a lot."

"You mean in a few years I'll be that Joey?" I ask him, now certain that he must have a heat stroke to believe something like that. "Then why doesn't he speak our tongue?"

"Because it's a bit longer than a few years. More like a few thousand years and we'll be re-born to be them." He explains. It does make a little more sense but I'm still rather doubtful, Joey is much stronger, but then again, the other one is stronger than Seth too and they do look like we do.

"You mean, in our next life, you'll love me too?" I ask him and see him turning to look at me in surprise. We stare at each other for a moment and I feel my face blushing with embarrassment. Did I really say too?

"JOEY?" I hear a voice screaming. A voice that sounds so much like Seth that I'm sure it is from his future self, if that is really the truth. I see Joey falling to the floor unconscious and notice that next to me Seth is making a step further towards him but stops himself. Joey is already cared for by others and he isn't meant for him yet. I still feel my sister holding my hand and wonder if I should just go with her. Seth likes Joey and not me; it doesn't matter if he is me in my next life, because I'm not as strong as he is right now. I'm not like him at all.

It takes a moment but after watching the others tend to Joey and seeing that his friends don't look as worried as at the start I finally can make myself turn and taking a step to leave with my sister. But I just get to make one step and feel someone else holding on to my hand. I turn and look at Seth who still looks over to the others. By now his future self is working on all those strange devices again and then he takes Joey on his arm and a moment later he disappears, followed by the other three. After that Seth asks me, "You liked Kaiba too, didn't you?"

"Who is Kaiba?" I ask and wonder if it's the name of the guy who looked so much like priest Seth.

"My future self." Seth answers, confirming my suspicion.

"Sort of." I answer with a blush.

"I guess it's because they're us, just better." He answers, "It's like they, or rather we, improved somehow with time. Which is probably why neither one seemed to care too much about either one of us."

I watch him a little longer, silently. I still don't want to be a step in, even if it's for myself. But then again, he wouldn't be just a step in for this Kaiba. I like him too, differently, but I do like him so much that the thougt of leaving hurts.

"Let's go." He says and still holds my hand. I walk with him silently. I wonder if we would have had a chance to be happy with each other if the other two would never have appeared and wonder if we will find that happiness now or if we'll always sort of long for the others future self.

I travel with him and my sister is very quiet and just watches us. I talk to her sometimes but not much and Seth doesn't do much to get a conversation going either. It only takes a few days to get back to the main city and once we reach it I feel two persons taking one of my hands. My sister on one side and Seth on the other. My sister seems to be scared, while I think that Seth simply wants to make sure I don't run off on him. He guides us all to the palace and I listen to him explaining everything to the other priests. But I'm surprised that he didn't mention the fact that I even have a shadow monster, never mind that I attacked him with it.

After that he walks with me and my sister through the palace towards a small room. Once there he says, "Your sister can use this room for the night, you'll see her tomorrow for breakfast."

I feel my sister holding on to my hand more but just smile at her. "Don't worry." I say with a smile, "It'll be fine. Just try to sleep, okay?"

She nods and lets go of me but looks worried. After that Seth pulls me away from her and she just looks after me. A little later we both stand in a bigger room and I look around. I see a bit of the strange fabric that Joey wore on his legs; it looks like it was cut off from his strange clothing. Joey must have used this room for a while. At least I assume it until I see Seth taking off some of his clothing and wash himself with some water in a bowl there. "Why didn't you mention my dragon in there? Or that I wanted to fight you?" I ask him.

"Have you ever heard about Kisara?" He asks me.

"Sure." I answer. "She was the one who had your dragon before it was sealed."

"My own father did that." He tells me and that was new to me. "He wanted the dragon's power. Your dragon might not be as powerful as mine, but it is powerful enough that some might want to have it. That's why I don't want anyone to know that it exists."

"Is that the reason you told me that you don't want to see it ever again?" I ask and wonder if he really could be worried about me too.

"Why else should I say it?" He asks me and I just stare at him.

"What is going to happen now?" I ask him after awhile.

"I don't know yet." He answers me and looks deep into my eyes, "But I hope that you'll stay with me."

"I'm not Joey though." I answer and look away.

"And I'm not Kaiba." Seth says and holds my hand. "But I like you, not just Joey, and I hope that you'll learn to like me too, if you stay."

"What about my sister?" I ask. "I can't leave her alone."

"You don't have to." Seth informs me and already smiles triumphantly. "I'll take care of her too. You won't have to worry about anything anymore."

I watch him for a moment and then whisper: "I don't think that I'll have to learn to like you. I already do." And then I feel his lips on mine and he pulls me onto his bed and holds me gently in his strong arms. I already know that I'll never leave him again, we belong together, and the fact that we'll be together in our next life only proves that fact.

* * *

><p>Auhtors note:<p>

And for further information, the mummy that was with Seth when the hair was found, it's Jōno because they really did stay with each other.


End file.
